


Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: In the Wake of Humanity Author's Cut Edition

by Lugialvr1994



Series: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ruins of Civilization Author's Cut Re-releases [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Complete, Eventual Romance, Female Protagonist, Gen, Gen Work, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-10-29 18:12:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 103,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17812943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lugialvr1994/pseuds/Lugialvr1994
Summary: The re-edited re-release, with bold author commentary, of my first story on this website. This version updates spelling, grammar and sentence structure and makes some other minor changes. It also contains commentary in bold providing "development insights" among other notes. If you are willing to read, or skip over, some author commentary, then you should read this updated version of the story. That is true whether you are reading the story for the first time, or re-reading it.Original Story Summary: In a world where humans have been extinct for centuries, a former outlaw seeks her redemption by forming a team of adventurers and gets more then she bargained for in the end.





	1. Release Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of the "Author's Cut Editions" of my stories that I will be posting. As the summary details, this version includes re-edited spelling, grammar and sentence structure. It also contains bold author commentary that varies from self-congratulatory to self-deprecating to hopefully insightful to just random. If you have not read the original story, than I might suggest reading this version, since it is more cleaned up. Also, you can always choose to ignore the bold commentary when you want to. Be warned as it will occasionally contain some spoilers for later in the story and possibly for this story's sequel If you have already read the original story and enjoyed it, this version should hopefully justify a re-read for some readers. Just please do not expect any major changes. Regardless, I plan to post chapters of this edition when I have the time, hopefully averaging at least one per day. I will not be following my normal twice-weekly Tuesday and Friday posting schedule for this edition. This edition is ready in document form. I just need to post all of the chapters at this point. Anyways, thank you for reading these notes and enjoy the story.

            Kyla looked out through the bars of her cell’s window and saw that the sun was rising over the nearby hilltops. She had no choice in her viewing location, since she had been in the same prison cell for the last year.

            **One thing to note about Kyla’s name is that she was originally supposed to be named Tara. For the majority of my planning this story, the protagonist was to be named Tara. Only when I remembered that the author of the infamous Fan Fic My Immortal called herself Tara did I change my protagonist’s name.**

            A voice called out, “This should be the last day you will look at the sunrise from that window, Kyla.” When Kyla turned to face the speaker, she saw her cellmate, Alana, getting up and out of bed and walking over. The two Riolu stood next to each other, both looking out the window.

            **To continue from my last point, I only changed my Protagonist’s name from Tara to Kyla just before I started writing the first chapter of this story. When I was writing this first chapter, I had to make sure to remember the name change.**

            “Well,” Kyla said, starting to smile, “You can be sure that I have no plans to come back here.”

            Alana nodded and, pointing at the metal ring around her neck, responded, “This will finally come off and we will be free. What are you planning to do after your release? As for me, I’m not really sure.”

            Kyla looked over at Alana, taking her gaze off the sunrise, and said, “I am going to go straight for one thing. Like I said, I do not want to end up back here. We were just lucky that we were only junior members in Monferno’s gang; she may never get out of here, but we have a second chance.”

            Alana nodded, saying, “I think I will head to the outpost near the mountains. I know it’s risky, but I hear that there is good work there for those who are willing to take it.”

            Kyla thought for a second and then replied, “I am going south to Polumbos Town. I just want to stay away from trouble from now on. I plan to get a job there and just live a normal life.”

            **If only Kyla had known what was going to happen to her in the following months…**

            As Alana was about to respond to Kyla’s plan, they saw a trio of familiar figures approaching their cell door. A Weavile, who the pair knew was named Akira, backed by a pair of Sneasel, came to stand at the barred entrance. Akira took a key out of a pouch and unlocked the door, after that she and the two Sneasel stepped into the cell.

              **Originally, Akira was referred to simply as Weavile. After getting a good number of chapters in, I came up with a name for her and retroactively applied to earlier chapters before official editing had really started.**

            “Alright ladies,” Akira said, “It’s your release day, follow us and we will process you and remove your inhibitor collars.”

            **I came up with the concept of the Power Inhibitors to allow characters in my ROC stories to be rendered unable to use their moves. Thereby allowing their captors to contain them without having to contend with their prisoners’ powerful attacks.**  

            Kyla’s heart soared as she and Alana were escorted out of the cell. She thought to herself, “Finally, I can have a chance to put the past behind me.”

**I wanted to make it pretty clear from early on that Kyla was not a vicious criminal. She always regretted entering that lifestyle in the first place.**

            Kyla and Alana were escorted down a flight of stairs and past a row of cells to the front of the ancient warehouse that served as the region’s prison. They were taken to a side room next to a double door that led outside the building. “Continue your regular patrol,” Akira told her younger brothers. The two of them saluted her and headed off to do as they were told.

            Akira then pointed to a side room and Alana and Kyla walked in. The room contained one large old table at the center with a candle. There were two rusty chairs on one side, in which the two prisoners sat down. 

            The window only illuminated part of the room, but Alana and Kyla could see a large shadow across the table from them. The figure stepped in to the light revealing himself as a Mamoswine. “Hello Sheriff” Kyla said nervously; she had not seen the sheriff of the alliance territory since her initial arrest and neither had Alana.

            Mamoswine, speaking in his deep, rumbling voice, said, “Well you two, I hope you realize what is expected of you. You both have only spent a year in prison for your criminal activity since my deputies arrested you, and you are both young and have the potential for full lives ahead of you.” He paused, to let what he was saying sink in, and then continued. “I would hope that I never have to see either or both of you young ladies brought back here, because repeat offences force me to give longer sentences. Now, I am going to have my head-deputy unlock your inhibitors and give you a stipend to give you both a head start until you can find LEGAL jobs. Do we have an understanding?”

            **Later on, Mamoswine starts being referred to by his actual name, Theodore. I did not have that idea until later on, so I worked that into the story without going back mentioning his name earlier, like I did for Akira.**

            Both of the prisoners nodded respectfully and soundly responded, “Yes, Sheriff.”

            Mamoswine nodded and smiled faintly, saying, “In that case, you may report to Akira for processing.” The two of them then left their chairs and returned to Akira.

            Nearby the front gate of the prison, Kyla waited as Akira unlocked Alana’s collar first. After it had been removed, she eagerly walked over to Akira as Alana began to rub her neck carefully. Akira took one of her many keys and inserted it into the collar around Kyla’s neck. As it fell away, Kyla felt a surge of energy build up in her body and could not help herself but jump for joy, thinking, “That thing had been on me for too long.”

            **Presumably, prisoners could not be let out of their inhibitors for long, if at all. The security risk would be too great for their guards.**

            Akira handed small pouches to both Alana and Kyla, saying sternly, “Enjoy your freedom, and for Arceus’s sake stay out of trouble. There are 500 Poke for each of you in there, in various denominations. Use that until you can find a good source of EARNED income.”

            Alana nodded respectfully after taking her money and headed for the door. However, Kyla, after taking her pouch, said, “Thank you ma’am. I intend to use this wisely.”

            Akira could not help but smile as she extended her claw to shake Kyla’s hand. “Be careful and stick to the roads, kid. Good luck out there.” she said, as Kyla turned away to follow Alana out.

            **Since Akira and Kyla ended up as friends later, it seems appropriate to have planted some seeds of that here.**

            Alana and Kyla were soon standing at the three-way crossroads nearby the warehouse-turned-prison. Alana looked over at her former cellmate and smiled, saying, “Good luck with everything Kyla. Hopefully we will see each other again under better circumstances.”

            The two of them embraced briefly. Then, Kyla said, “Are you sure you want to head north alone?”

            Alana nodded yes, as she began walking north, and then turned around, saying, “I will stick to the road. Normally, the wild Pokémon are smart enough to avoid hunting or setting up territory on it, so I should be fine. Good luck, once again.” As Kyla waved at her friend’s retreating figure she saw a small group of Pokémon approaching from the south on the road.

            **I wonder how many readers thought that Alana would be a major character in the story before this scene?**

            Kyla squinted as the sun, now higher in the sky, got in her eyes; she raised her hand over her eyes in order to get a better view of the travelers. Upon focusing her eyes properly, she saw that there were six of them; however, only four of them were walking. Among the four walking Pokémon there were a Totodile and a Fennekin leading the way, with a Bulbasaur and an Axew behind them. The Axew was, despite his size, carrying an Elekid over his shoulder. The Bulbasaur was dragging another using extended vines. As the group drew closer it became clear that the two Elekid were both unconscious. Kyla stepped off the road allowing the group to pass her, they seemed too focused to notice her, and head to the front door of the prison. Upon closer examination, Kyla saw that both the Elekid were wearing inhibitor cuffs. Inhibitor cuffs were similar to the inhibitors collars that she and Alana had been wearing up until recently, in the sense that they were able to suppress a Pokémon’s ability to use moves, as well as the ability of some Ghost-Type Pokémon to move through walls and other objects. They were also used as connected bindings for wrists or ankles. Another thing of note was that all four of the captor Pokémon had brass colored badges on their chests, except for the Bulbasaur, who had his on the front on his bulb. The Totodile was also carrying a small metallic box with a handle on it. They group passed by Kyla without paying much attention to her and Kyla kept her distance, trying to figure out what was going on.

            **Here, I introduce the first team from Polumbos Town. I’ll admit to a bit of an information-dump in the preceding paragraph.**

            The group arrived at the front gate of the prison. Akira opened the door and had a conversation with the group of Pokémon. Kyla could not hear exactly what they were saying and still kept her distance. Once the four Pokémon had finished talking to Akira, one of the Sneasel brothers appeared and handed the captor Pokémon each a small pouch like the one that Kyla and Alana had received. Then, the two deputies dragged the two Elekid inside the prison and the door was closed. Kyla was standing at the crossroads as the Four Pokémon group started heading her way again. Kyla thought, “Whoever these guys are they seem to know Akira. If they are headed to Polumbos Town, I wonder if they would let me tag along? I would rather not take the road alone, in case of outlaws or wild Pokémon. Some company would be nice, anyway.”

            Deciding that she had nothing to lose, Kyla waited until they were close to her and then politely asked, “Excuse me folks, are you headed or Polumbos town? I was planning on heading there myself, and I would appreciate the company.” The group of four stopped and all of them looked inquisitively over at Kyla.

            The Bulbasaur spoke first, “That would be fine miss. But first, would you mind telling us who you are?”

             Kyla froze up, thinking, “I guess I should be honest with them. Hopefully they will still let me tag along if I explain that I have done my time.” Kyla then cleared her throat and spoke as calmly as she could, “My name is Kyla and, to be honest, I have just been released from the institution behind you, I was hoping to head over to Polumbos Town to try to get a steady job.”

            Just as the Bulbasaur was about to responded the Axew chimed in, “Sorry miss, but I do not think we should be traveling, even for a short trip, with a criminal. We could not trust you.”

            **And now we see the beginnings of a feud that plays a critical part in the early story.**

            Kyla’s heart sank and she lowered her head. As she was about to apologize for even bringing the idea up, the Totodile gave the Axew a light punch in the side and walked over to Kyla. Putting her “hand” on Kyla’s shoulder she said, “Don’t mind Hans, he is just very mistrustful sometimes. You see, he lived at the outpost, where things are more dangerous, when he was younger. My name is Chandra, and the Bulbasaur is Jacob, or Jake for short. The Fennekin is named Alina.”

            Alina then spoke up and said, “We will let you follow us back to town, don’t worry too much about Hans. Nice to meet you.”

            Jacob then said, “You can follow us Kyla, you did your time anyways.”

            Hans grumbled and sighed, “Well, it looks like I have been outvoted.” Turning to Kyla, he continued, “I am keeping an eye on you, though.”

            Jacob then looked over at Hans and said to him, “It will all be fine, we can get to town by the end of the day and we outnumber her four to one just in case she tries anything, which I doubt.”

            Kyla looked up slowly and saw Chandra’s toothy, but smiling, face and then hugged her. After Kyla withdrew her arms from the slightly surprised Chandra she said, “Sorry about that,” she said. Not out of regret, but out of politeness, “It’s just that not many Pokémon have treated me with kindness in my life.”

            Jacob then took the lead of the group of five, saying, “Lets move out everyone, we need to get to Polumbos and I need to see Bailey.” Kyla could not help herself, she asked, “Who is Bailey, Jacob?” Jacob just smiled back at Kyla and responded, “Bailey is someone who is very special to me.” The group of five moved out, heading south down the road.        

            **I will admit that the sub-plot with Jacob and Bailey did not become as big of a deal in the story as I might have planned it to be at first.**

            The group of five had been traveling down the road for around three hours, with Kyla having not said much. Hans had insisted that Kyla be at the front of the group, which she had decided not to protest so as to avoid angering him. Occasionally she would look back and try to get a better look at her traveling companion’s badges, wondering how they were attached to the Pokémon’s bodies, which puzzled her. Eventually, when Kyla saw Alina walking up next to her she decided to ask the question which had been brewing in her mind. “Just wondering,” Kyla began, “What are those badges that you all are wearing?”

            Hans remained quiet. However, Alina spoke up, saying, “I guess you do not know about the P.A.G.”

            Kyla looked at Alina and responded, “You are right, I do not know what that is.”

            Alina looked back at her comrades and asked them, “Hey, do you guys think I should explain the Guild to her?” Everyone nodded except for Hans, who just kept his eyes on Kyla. Alina then began, “The P.A.G. is also known as the Pokémon Adventurers Guild.”

            Kyla could only respond by saying, “Ok.”

            Alina continued, “The Guild is run by Guild Master Zoroark. He lives in the city up north past the mountains; none of us have met him in person. The Guild has offices in various towns and outposts, and its members form teams such as ours and help locals by fighting dangerous wild Pokémon, rescuing civilians from nasty situations, going after hostile tribes and arresting outlaws and bringing them to justice.”

            **Guild Master Zoroark’s real name, Shade, is only mentioned later on in the story. In that sense, he is very similar to Theodore.**

             Kyla felt awkward about the last statement. However, she urged Alina to continue. Alina smiled and then continued by saying, “Team members do not owe the Guild any of their reward money. However, they have to identify themselves as members when completing missions. Also on occasion, they may need to do a mission that furthers the Guild’s bigger purpose, which they may or may not get compensated for.”

            **I think that I was trying to differentiate the Guild of the ROC Pokéverse from the Guild in PMD: Explorers by not having members owe the Guild a portion of their reward money. Also, the division of the P.A.G. into smaller four-member teams and its geographical scale are key points of difference.**  

            Kyla cocked her head and asked, “Bigger purpose?”

            Alina went on, “Oh yes, the Guild helps Pokémon in need and fights dangerous Pokémon, but its bigger purpose is to help with Guild Master Zoroark’s research into humans.”

            Kyla stopped Alina there, asking, “Humans? Do you mean that species which has been extinct for over two hundred years? The ones who built all sorts of ruins that many Pokémon use, or live in, now?”

            **Yes, that was an attempt to sneak in some more exposition.**

            Alina looked amused and shot back, “Who else would I be talking about?!” and then apologized, “Sorry Kyla, it just seemed obvious.”

            Kyla nodded, taken aback slightly by Alina’s short outburst. Alina then continued, “Let me finish. Zoroark is a famous researcher on the subject of humans. His Guild reverse-engineers human technology to make the Power Inhibitors used by law-enforcement, and also our team toolboxes, which can carry more items than they look like they can. He is supposedly working on new gadgets, such as upgrades to our badges so they will be able to allow teams to return to a preset location if they all faint, or warping willing allies back to the same location, and things like that.” Kyla felt a bit dizzy just trying to take in all the information and wondered if it was for the best for her to have asked.

            **I mainly mentioned the badge upgrade as a shout-out to the source material. That particular upgrade never shows up.**

            Then Jacob chimed in, saying, “You probably do not know this, but Akira, Sheriff Mamoswine’s lead deputy, was a guild member until she took her job with the Sheriff. I have even heard that she and Zoroark were together and still write letters to each other frequently.” Kyla looked back at Jacob with her mouth wide open; she had never known that Akira had been romantically involved once.

            **I think that Akira probably never came off as the romantic type to her prisoners.**

            Hans finally interjected, “Not to be rude guys, but why are we telling her this? It’s not like she would even be considered seriously for membership, even if she was interested. Whatever is on her record it would surely disqualify her. Also, I am sure that no one would want to be on a team with an outlaw.”

            **Hans has inadvertently started off the plot. Kyla is not the kind to be told she cannot do something.**

            Kyla could barely keep her rage in check; she partly blamed herself for not realizing earlier the stigma that would come with being a former criminal. And yet, she had made no effort to be unkind to Hans. Even the deputies and the Sheriff, whose job it was to control crime, had been considerate to her and Alana, and had given them their stipends to try and keep them out of trouble. She began to worry about what her job prospects were, considering her past, but then she saw Hans’ look of severe disapproval and snapped, “You know what,” she said with, clear anger in her voice, “After we reach Polumbos Town, I am going to find your P.A.G. office and ask to join a team. I may not be the most experienced in the world, but I am sure I could help in some way. And then, if I do that, will you realize that I am not inherently evil?”

            **Hans just set off the K-bomb.**

            Everyone stopped and turned to Hans. Kyla had to catch her breath after her brief rant. Hans was actually shocked; it took a moment for him to respond, but when he finally did, he said, surprisingly calmly, “Miss Kyla, I admire your passion. However, as I pointed out before, unless you lie, which you will not be able to do, since we all know that you have been a criminal in the past and will be able to tell the office that truth, they will not let you in. Also, even if you do get a job with the P.A.G. it will certainly not be as a full team member, because I cannot possibly envision you finding three other recruits to help you anyway. You will be seen as too much of a liability by the organization, and by your potential team mates. I rest my case.”

            Kyla then sighed and responded, “I am at least going to try, whether or not you admit you were wrong in the end, because if I succeed I will have at least proven you wrong to myself.” Kyla made a faint smile at the end of her statement, and turned down the road and kept walking. Slowly, but surely the others began to follow her to Polumbos town, Hans at the rear after he received brief glares from his three teammates.    

            **And so, the story begins. I wonder what would have happened if Hans had never antagonized Kyla so much?**


	2. Polumbos Town

            It was evening when they reached Polumbos town. Most of the way back, after Kyla’s outburst, everyone had been silent. Hans and Kyla had not made an official bet about whether or not Kyla could join the P.A.G, but she was determined to at least attempt to join the organization. However, she knew that she would have to find a place to stay first.

            When they entered town, Hans and Chandra headed for the inn in the northern district, while Jacob declared his intention to see Bailey and left the group as well. This left Alina and Kyla standing together in the northern entrance.

             Alina turned to Kyla and asked, “Well, we got you to Town, now what do you want to do? I need to get back home to my family at some point soon, but is there anything I can help you with first?”

            Kyla smiled warmly at Alina, saying, “I have to say that I appreciate the help. It’s kind of funny because my old cellmate was named Alana which, of course, sounds a lot like your name. She is a Riolu like me… and was in the same gang as I was.”

            **I think I came up with the character of Alina before I came up with Alana, actually. I know that it is odd that their names are so similar.**  

            Alina nodded and asked, “What exactly was your criminal experience like anyway?”

            Kyla stepped back and lowered her head a bit, saying, “I would rather not talk about it, not because it was particularly traumatic, but because I would like to leave the past behind. I would like to find an inexpensive place to stay for the time being, at least until I can get my own place, if that ever happens.”

            Alina started walking south and told Kyla to follow her. The two of them walked past the three-story town hall in the center of the settlement and then headed into the southern district. On the way down, Alina told Kyla that the road south led to Riverton, a smaller village that, as its name suggested, sat on a major river. The river acted as a major trade route. Mamoswine was actually the sheriff of Polumbos, Riverton and the outpost near the mountains, collectively known as the Alliance Territory.

            **It seems like heroic organizations in fiction are often called alliances. An obvious example would be the Rebel Alliance from Star Wars.**  

            When the duo entered the southern district, Alina turned back over to Kyla and said, “So, we are heading to the cheaper inn on the southern side of town, a Chansey runs the place. She is the younger sister of Mother Blissey.”

            Kyla asked, “Mother Blissey, who is that?” 

            Alina responded, “Oh, yeah, I have got to remember that you are new here, sorry. Anyway mother Blissey runs the church dedicated to Arceus in the northern part of town. The church is the only human made building in Polumbos and it has needed quite a few repairs over time. Mother Blissey is very wise and kind, she is an important figure in the town, not as much as the mayor though.”

            Kyla nodded, thankful for the information. Then, with the inn that Alina had mentioned in sight, Alina asked Kyla, “Speaking of mothers, do you have family, and if so where are they?”

            Kyla froze up and sighed deeply as she turned to Alina and began, “To be honest, I never knew my father. I was raised as a child by my mother in a shack of a house in the hills. I do not know why, but my mother avoided civilization whenever she could. One day I wandered off, and when I got back home my mother was gone. There were signs of a struggle, but no bodies. I was unable to follow the tracks very far, and without her or any family or friends, I was left alone in the world. I can at least say that I turned to crime out of desperation and loneliness.”

            **I clearly wanted to make Kyla sympathetic from the start, otherwise maybe I would not have made it so she was essentially forced into crime.**  

            Alina remained silent until they reached the inn. Upon their arrival, she turned to Kyla and said, “I wish you the best of luck with whatever plans you have. In case you plan on following through with what you said before, the Guild office for this region is on the other side of this street. I am sure that Chansey can give you directions.” Kyla briefly hugged Alina and then walked into the inn as Alina left to go back to her home.

            **At least early in the story, Kyla was quite the hugger.**

            Kyla walked into the inn, pushing past the saloon-style double doors. She looked around the interior of the wooden building’s first floor and saw a number of tables with chairs around them, but no one was around. Her eyes soon turned to the back of the room where a Chansey stood behind a bar wiping the inside of a glass with a piece of cloth. As Kyla was walking up to the Chansey, she noticed a series of lamps, which were mounted on the walls, keeping the room lit. As she reached the bar and took a seat on a wooden stool, she noticed a stairway leading upwards next to the bar.

            Chansey looked over at Kyla and put down the glass while smiling warmly. “Hello stranger, what brings you here?” Chansey asked Kyla.

            Kyla smiled back at Chansey and began, “Well, I am new in town and I was wondering if I could rent a room for the time being. I need a place to stay, someone I met recently led me here.”

            Chansey continued smiling and then went over to a small notebook resting on a table next to the back wall. She looked through it for a few seconds and then walked back over to Kyla. “Room 206 is available for a single tenant. I can rent it to you for a small cost, which is only 10 Poke a week.” Chansey said.

            Kyla took out her pouch of money and got out a coin that was worth 10 Poke. She then handed it over to Chansey, who smiled and then handed Kyla a key with the number 206 carved into the side of it. Kyla took the key and said, “Thank you ma’am I will take good care of the room. Just let me know when rent is due again.”

            Chansey nodded and then, as Kyla was about to head up the stairs mentioned, “There are three floors, the top floor is higher rent with less rooms, but you should be comfortable in your room. I make sure that everything is cleaned routinely.”

            **That was another piece of exposition that the story might not have needed.**

            Kyla then turned around and walked back over to the bar. Chansey cocked her head towards Kyla, anticipating being asked a question. Kyla then asked, “I heard that your older sister is the head of the church in this town.”

            Chansey responded, “Yes she is, she has held that positions for many years.”

            **I do not remember why Kyla asked that question. Maybe she just wanted to confirm what Alina had told her for herself?**

            Kyla nodded, thanked Chansey and then walked up to the second floor. 

            Kyla, upon reaching the second floor, walked to the 6th door. She then inserted her key into the lock on the door. Kyla wondered how most of the buildings in town were built, since only the church had been pre-existing. The buildings in town all looked very sturdy and the inn was almost as tall as the city hall.

            Kyla then opened the door and stepped into the small room. It contained a small straw bed with a cloth sheet over it, a small desk with a stool, an open-topped wood crate and a single window with a frame in it, but no glass. Kyla placed her key on the desk and her money pouch in the crate, which seemed to her to be for storage. She looked out the window and thought to herself, “I guess I have a new place to watch the sunrise from.” She then looked around the room and realized how few possessions she had. Shrugging her shoulders, she then laid down in the bed and pulled the sheet over herself.

            Kyla found herself saying “Goodnight, Alana,” out of force of habit as she closed her eyes. She immediately opened them after saying that and thought, “I also have no one to say goodnight to… Well, at least I have my freedom now.” Kyla closed her eyes again and within minutes she was asleep.

            **I think that this was one of my shortest non-epilogue chapters in the whole series. Regardless, it does the important job of setting up an important recurring location. I think that her saying goodnight to Alana, even though she was not there, was a nice touch.**


	3. The Guild Office

            Kyla woke up from her first night in Polumbos Town in the early morning. She crawled out of bed and walked up to her inn room’s window and looked out at the sunrise. She could not help but smile faintly as she thought of her situation. She was safely in town and out of prison. Also, she had secured a place to stay.

            Suddenly she heard a knock on the door. Kyla stretched her arms up, yawned and walked over to the door, then looked through the small peephole to see that it was Chansey. Kyla quickly opened the door and said, “Good morning” to Chansey.

            Chansey responded, “Good morning. I did not catch your name last night, miss, assuming you have one. Also, I wanted to let you know that breakfast is normally complimentary. I was pretty sure that you would still be asleep, most of the other Pokémon staying here are still sleeping.”

            **I feel like this is one of the few settings where a sentient being would not automatically assume that everyone has a name.**

            Kyla responded, “My name is Kyla, and I actually just got up. I can come down for breakfast now.” Kyla kept her money pouch in the room and locked the door behind her as she followed Chansey down to the first floor.

            The two of them saw a Mudkip sitting at a table eating some food that Chansey had prepared before heading upstairs, but otherwise there was no one around. Chansey went behind the bar and started making Kyla some pancakes. As she did that, she mentioned that the inn’s food was all supplied by the farms around Polumbos Town. Kyla sat down to eat at the bar as Chansey continued to prepare food, anticipating that the other guests would be downstairs within a short period of time.

            Chansey asked Kyla, as she finished her food, “So, another thing I forgot last night. What brings you here, anyways, Kyla?”

            Kyla leaned over the bar towards Chansey and whispered, “I was actually released from prison yesterday. Now I am trying to live an honest life and possibly join the P.A.G.”

            Much to Kyla’s surprise Chansey shouted, “The P.A.G.! Oh, you must know that their office is on the other side of the street.”

            **I guess I thought that Chansey screaming out loud about the Guild and the location of its nearby office would be funny when I was first writing this?**

            Kyla looked taken aback and was about to ask Chansey why she shouted, while thanking Arceus that Chansey had not shouted the other part of what she had whispered. However, she felt a light tap on the back of her right leg. She turned around to see the Mudkip standing directly behind her.

            **And enter Kyla’s future best friend…**

            As soon as he had her attention, he began, sounding both polite and awkward at the same time, “Sooooo miss, I heard you were looking to join the Adventures Guild.”

            Kyla nodded and responded, “Why yes I am. Not to be rude, but why does that concern you?”

            The Mudkip extended one of his front legs like a hand and said, “The name is Stephan, miss, and I also have some degree of interest in becoming an adventurer.”

            Kyla shook Stephan’s front leg with her right hand and then said, “My name is Kyla, nice to meet you Stephan. Out of curiosity would you be interested in joining a team with me?” She almost anticipated being told no.

            Stephan cocked his head a bit, thought for a moment and responded, “Probably, why not?”

            Kyla gulped and decided it was time to put Hans’s theory to the test. She slowly told Stephan, “To be honest, I became a member of a gang of outlaws after my mother disappeared. I was captured by the Sheriff’s deputies and sentenced to a year in prison. I was only released yesterday and when I walked to Polumbos with some Pokémon who were P.A.G. members, one of them suggested very strongly that due to my past I could never join the Guild.”

            **For someone who was a criminal, Kyla is quite honest when she feels the need to be.**  

            Stephan looked surprised to hear all of that information so quickly. However, almost immediately after Kyla was finished he said, “I am sorry to hear about that. However, assuming you are well intentioned I will work with you gladly. I think that it’s great that you want to turn your life around.”

            **I think this will be the beginning of beautiful friendship…**

            Kyla was immensely relieved, and her first thought was to make a mental note to tell Hans that he was at least partially wrong if she ever saw him again. Then, smiling warmly, she asked Stephan, “Shall we head over to the office in that case?”

            Stephan smiled and responded, “I love your enthusiasm, but we still need another two allies in order to even apply for guild work. From what you said, there seems to be another team in town already.”

            Kyla nodded and said, “To my knowledge, the team that helped me get here is based in this town.”

            Stephan thought for a second and then said, “Well I guess we should not let that stop us from trying.”

            Kyla turned to Stephan and said, “I have an idea, why don’t we go to the office now, express interest in joining and then ask if anyone else has expressed interest who is not already in a team. Then, if they tell us about anyone we try to find them and ask them to join up with us.”

            Stephan gave a quick nod and told Kyla, “That sounds like a good idea.”

            Kyla and Stephan left the inn as Chansey waved goodbye to them.

            After Kyla and Stephan had been walking down the street in the morning air of Polumbos Town for a short time, they saw a one-story building with the Guild’s badge symbol on its front side just south and across the street from Chancey’s inn.

            As the duo approached the office, Kyla saw the familiar figure of Jacob the Bulbasaur. He was talking in front of the office with a Chikorita.

            Jacob turned to Kyla and Stephan and before Kyla could react walked over with the Chikorita and said, “Hey Kyla, this is Bailey… my girlfriend.”

            Kyla nodded, thinking, “Well that explains who Bailey is.”

             Jacob then continued, “If you see any Venusaur who ask where I was, then say I was with Chandra, Hans and Alina.”

            “Ok, why though?” Kyla asked.

            Jacob’s cheeks turned red as Bailey shuffled her feet uneasily. Then Jacob responded, “My parents, who I live with for now, do not like the idea of me dating anyone who is not within the same overall species.  When Bailey and me got together they made quite a stink about it. Bailey’s parents did not care, but we had to pretend to break up in front of my parents.” Bailey nodded, affirming what Jacob had said.

            **I think that this is the only example of pseudo-racism that appears in PMD: ROC.**  

            Stephan then chimed in, saying, “I sort of know the feeling, my mother back home kicked me out… for reasons, which I will not specify at the moment. But I digress, I just met Kyla here and we are trying to join the P.A.G.”

            Jacob looked over at Kyla and said, “Not to be discouraging, but you do not have to do this just because Hans said you could not.”

            Kyla thought for a moment and then said, with confidence in her voice, “I want to join up. It seems like members of your Guild get both public respect and a good, if dangerous to earn, living. I think that this will be a good way to prove my worth to society. Also I REALLY want to prove Hans wrong!”

            **Kyla’s determination to prove Hans wrong ends up being the catalyst for a lot of the plot. She really hates being told no!**  

            “I wish you luck in that case.” Jacob said.

            Bailey said to Jacob, “Come on dear, we should be going.” Jacob nodded, used a vine to shake Stephan’s leg, and then he and Bailey left.

            Kyla and Stephan entered the P.A.G. office after Jacob and Bailey departed. The office, or at least the lobby, was a simple area, the walls were made of gray stone and the room only had a few chairs. A tall desk with a bell on it was the other side of the lobby from the door. Kyla walked up to the desk and decided to ring the bell.

            She and Stephen heard a female voice shouting “Coming!” and a Sunflora ran up to the desk and looked over it at the duo. “Can I help you two?” Sunflora asked Stephan and Kyla.

            **The Suflora who runs the Guild office in this story was meant to be a shout-out to the Sunflora in PMD: Explorers. She is a separate character, of course.**

            Kyla nodded firmly and responded, “Yes ma’am, you can. My name is Kyla, and this here is my new acquaintance Stephan. We would like to join the Guild, and since we lack the requisite two other team members, we were wondering, who else in the town might have asked to join?”

            Sunflora thought for a brief moment and then seemed to think of something. She turned to Kyla and said, “I have heard of you actually.”

            Kyla staggered back as Sunflora continued, smiling the whole time, “Hans, one of our guild team members, came in early this morning just to tell me that you are a dirty criminal and that we should refuse to let you in.”

            **Sunflora seems like the type who smiles a hell of a lot. I wonder how bad the news would have to be for her to frown while delivering it?**

            Kyla lowered her head as rage and sadness built inside her. She thought of how Hans had gone out of his way just to antagonize her and harm her chances at a better life.

            Stephan wished he could hug Kyla, but instead he just said, “Hans must be a real bastard!”

            **I did not swear too often in ROC, because I was writing based on a kids’ series. However, that time it seems necessary to convey how much Stephan has become attached to Kyla already.**  

            Sunflora looked over at Kyla, who seemed on the verge of tears and then seemed to realize something, she told Kyla, “Let me finish… Yes, Hans told me that you were a worthless crook, in his own words. However, he is not by any means the boss of me, and if you can find enough team members, then I can give you all the paper work and then the badges.”

            **Maybe Sunflora should have said that part earlier?**

            Kyla quickly looked up and breathed a deep sigh of relief. She then looked Sunflora in the eyes and said, smiling awkwardly, “You had me scared there. Anyway, who else is interested in joining?”

            Sunflora thought for a moment, then she told Kyla and Stephan, “There is a female Chimchar named Delilah who grew up in this town and has expressed interest in joining the Guild. She is frequently over at the church, but I do not know where she lives, to be honest.”

            Kyla nodded enthusiastically and said to Sunflora, “Thank you, we will hopefully be back soon.” Stephan nodded as well. Then, the two of them left the office.

            Kyla and Stephan just needed to take one of the two main roads in Polumbos to reach the church. Kyla figured that even if Delilah was not there, that this Mother Blissey who she had heard about could help them locate her.

            As the two partners reached the town’s central square, Kyla decided that, since she had been so open about her past with Stephan, she deserved to ask him a question. “Hey Stephan, just wondering, why did your mother kick you out of your home?”

            **If Kyla is the equivalent to a Player Character in this story, I wonder if Stephan is equivalent to the Partner Pokémon since he shares a strong platonic relationship with Kyla.**

            Stephan did not even sigh. He looked up at his new partner and responded, “Well, Kyla, I guess that if we are to be teammates we should be knowledgeable about each other. Also, you told me about your past. … The truth is that I’m gay.”

            **Since there are theories about there even being gay animals, I thought that creatures with humanlike intelligence could therefore easily also end up as homosexuals. Also, I obviously subscribe to the theory that Pokémon do possess reproductive organs.**

            Kyla thought for a moment and then said, “Oh, you mean you ‘like’ other guys and that upset your mother.”

            Stephan nodded and then told Kyla, “Exactly, my mother refused to accept me, so I left Riverton and moved up to Polumbos, where I having been trying to re-start my life. Even though there are admittedly some major differences between our experiences, I think we will make good teammates because we both have been trying to create new lives for ourselves here.”

            **I will be the first one to admit that I sometimes have problems applying the “Show don’t tell theory of writing.” That was one example of it…I think.**

            Kyla nodded and thought, “At least I am making quite a few friends: Alina, Chansey, Stephan, Jacob, Chandra and possibly Bailey and Sunflora. I just hope that there are not more Pokémon like Hans out there.”

            As Kyla and Stephan were about to exit the square and head to the church, she saw the Pokémon who had most recently been on her mind, Hans. He was talking with Chandra as the two of them were walking to the town hall. Hans stopped upon seeing Kyla and told an annoyed-looking Chandra to go ahead to the town hall.

            As Hans walked up to them, Kyla decided that now was as good as ever to confront Hans about his trying to sabotage her entry to the Guild.

            Stephan asked Kyla, “Is that who I think it is?”

            Kyla nodded quickly and replied, “Yes, that’s Hans.”

            Stephan growled and glared at the incoming Axew. When Hans reached the duo, he did not seem to pay Stephan any mind. Kyla pre-empted him by saying, in a clearly upset tone of voice, “I know what you did at the Guild office. Why do you hate me? It’s not like I ever tried to harm you!”

            Hans did not seem taken aback that much, “Well, I just do not trust criminals, and I certainly would not want the Guild to tarnish its reputation by allowing such Pokémon to gain the privileges of membership.”

            **Hans had an uncanny ability to stay calm even when he is bombarded with criticism. Maybe he saw responding to Kyla in kind as beneath him.**

            Stephan interjected, saying, “Actually, I think that it could even, if anything, build the Guild’s reputation, if it allows those willing to seek redemption to enter its ranks. I am personally happy to team up with Kyla here.”

Hans glared at Stephan and then attempted a face-palm with his claw.

            Kyla smiled at Stephan, genuinely grateful that he was willing to support her.

            Hans then recovered and said, “Regardless of your ability to get ONE OVERLY TRUSTING Pokémon on your side, I severely doubt that two more with any skills of note will trust you enough to fight alongside you. You might as well look for other employment that does not have such high standards.”

            **It seems at this point that Hans has gotten defensive, now that Kyla has an ally.**

            Kyla then folded her arms, not intimidated by Hans’s newest statement. She replied, “You know that you just strengthen my resolve with every hateful thing that you say to me.”

            **I have to say that I really like that line upon reading it again. You have to hand it to Kyla for not wanting to back down in the face of determined opposition.**  

            Hans actually seemed annoyed at this and shot back, “It is not that I hate you personally. I just hate outlaws in general, and I love the Guild. It is only natural that I would despise the idea of those two things mixing. Now I have to meet up with my, admittedly too trusting as well, teammates in the town hall. Just keep in mind, Kyla, that having Guild Pokémon be willing to escort you to town is not the same thing as them being willing to fight alongside you, especially against other criminals!”

            **Now, it looks like the façade of civility that Hans had put up has been dropped. I wonder if Hans saw criminals as a monolith and thought that they all supported each other.**

            Hans left after that, leaving Kyla both momentarily depressed and angry. However, Stephan looked at Kyla and told her, “A good part of me does not want to be in the same guild as that guy. However, I think that you are a good Pokémon and if I were you I would value my opinion more, because we are going to be on a team together.” Kyla smiled down at her new partner and hugged him. The two of them then walked up to the church’s front door, which was open, and entered.

            **Because homophobia is not necessarily linked to religion in this world, Stephan is not afraid, or even nervous, to enter the church of Arceus.**


	4. Finding Delilah

            The church was a massive building, with only one story and a sloped roof. Inside, a statue of Arceus, the chief deity of the Pokémon, stood above an altar. Statues of Arceus’ first two children Dialga, the Demigod of Time, and Palkia, the Demigoddess of Space, flanked it.

            **The existence of Giratina was not common knowledge in the setting at the time of this story.**  

            Kyla and Stephan saw a stairway heading downstairs on the left past the altar and a Chespin who was using a wood-handled broom to sweep in front it. The two partners walked up to the Chespin, who noticed them and put her broom down. She surprised both of them by saying to Kyla, “You must be Kyla, my friend Alina told me about you. I was wondering if you would visit soon.” Then she turned to Stephan and the two of them nodded to each other.

             Stephan happily said, “Nice to see you again, Sabrina.”

            Kyla stepped back and thought, “Ok, Sabrina knowing Alina explains how she knows who I am.” She asked, “How do you two know each other?”

            Sabrina looked slightly awkward and lowered her head a bit as she told Kyla, “Alina and I are not just friends, we are actually a couple, we often hang out with Stephan.”

            **One thing that I like to do is create a sort of “web” of relationship between characters, which may be pre-existent before the protagonist arrives. This is an obvious example of that concept.**

            Stephan then added, “Alina and Sabrina have always seemed very lucky to me, because their families have not disowned them for just being who they are.”

            **Sorry if that bit came across as preachy… reading it again, I think it sort of did.**

            Sabrina nodded and said, “Now, why are you two here? Just so you know, Mother Blissey is in the basement at the moment writing her next sermon.”

            Kyla replied, “We are looking for a Chimchar girl who goes by the name Delilah. We heard that she spends time here quite often.”

            Sabrina thought for a brief moment, before her eyes lit up and she responded, “Yes, Delilah frequently volunteers here. I am Mother Blissey’s actual assistant, though. I am the only one who is paid to work here. I live in a room in the basement of the church.” As Kyla was about to interject Sabrina continued, “I can give you her address, but why do you need to see her?”

            Kyla was then able to reply, “Me and Stephan are trying to form a new Guild team in town and, according to Sunflora from the Guild’s office, Delilah had expressed an interest in joining.”

            Sabrina nodded through Kyla’s whole speech and then replied, “Ok, you know there is already a team in town, right? However, I can only assume that the ‘more the merrier’ saying would be in effect for the Guild.” Sabrina then told them Delilah’s address, 975 East-West Road, and wished them well.

            Stephan and Kyla were about to leave when they saw someone coming up the stairs from the basement.

            Mother Blissey was one of the few Pokémon Kyla had ever seen who wore clothes; she had a cloak-like white garment over her shoulders with a green lining. As she stepped up to the main floor of the church she gave Sabrina and the others a friendly nod. She then walked over to the altar and opened a large book, which was lying on a table in front of it. Blissey was flipping the pages as Kyla told Stephan to wait and walked over to the altar; she had something to ask the reverend of Polumbos Town.

            Sabrina looked over at Kyla as she took a position directly behind Blissey and asked, “Excuse me Mother, do you have a moment?”

            Blissey slowly turned around and asked Kyla, “Do you want to know about this book, it is a very precious artifact.” As Kyla tried to politely interrupt Blissey went on, “The book was written by humans over two centuries ago and contains a great wealth of information on legendary Pokémon, as well as the creation of our world, among other things. It took me years to be able to learn to read it properly. I was just reading over a section on the ancient demigods Groudon and Kyogre again.”

            **I remember being asked to place that little bit of foreshadowing there after my beta reader reached the point where Groudon and Kyogre actually appear in the story.**  

            Kyla took a second to digest the information mentally and then replied, “I am sorry Mother, but I had more of a theological, doctrinal question.”

            Mother Blissey nodded and then said, “Ok, I can give you my personal interpretation, but keep in mind that there is no united church of Arceus, at least on this continent.”

            **I wonder if a United Church of Arceus would have eventually developed, given time. Pokémon civilizations that worship Arceus are still not that far along at this point.**

             Kyla then took in a deep breath, as she glanced back at Stephan, who was overlooking the situation and was wondering what was going to happen. She then asked Mother Blissey, “What would you think Arceus says about redemption? Do you believe that if someone has been acting in immoral ways in their past, even if they had little choice due to circumstances, can they still become a good Pokémon?”

            Mother Blissey put one of her short arms on Kyla’s shoulder and replied, “I can say with almost complete certainty that you are talking about yourself. Arceus does not want his creations to harm each other unjustly, but it does occur frequently in this wild world of ours. Regardless of your past, within reason, I believe that Arceus and my church in particular would be willing to accept you if you are willing to focus on self-improvement and helping those around you.”

            Kyla was about to embrace the reverend when Blissey continued, “You did not kill anybody, right?”

            **I specifically put that last line in to indicate that killing does occur in this version of the Pokéverse. And it certainly does before the end of this story.**

            Kyla blushed brightly and then quickly responded, “No, Mother I did not kill anyone!”

            Blissey smiled and then said, “In that case, I believe that my church will not judge you.”

            Kyla then hugged Blissey, remarked mentally that she had been hugging a lot of Pokémon lately, and then walked over to Stephan. The two of them then left the Church to go to the address given to them by Sabrina.

            **At least, Kyla is becoming self-aware about her hugging tendencies.**

            Kyla and Stephan then headed over to the East-West Road of Polumbos town where they followed the address numbers until they found a two-story, orange-painted stone brick house with a red number, 975, attached to the mailbox. They noticed a small garden out in front, and they also heard a female voice humming behind the house. Kyla and Stephan saw a fence around the yard with a small door in it. Kyla walked up to the fence’s door and tested it with a push to find that it was not locked. She opened it carefully and Stephan followed her back.

            **Maybe there are not anti-trespassing laws in the Alliance territory, unless you are stealing from or attacking the inhabitants?**

            They two partners saw a Chimchar working in a garden. She was planting seeds in the ground. She then turned to look at the two Pokémon, asking them, “Can I help you?”

            Kyla asked in response, “Are you Delilah? Sunflora and Sabrina told us about you.”

            The Chimchar quickly responded, “Yes, that would be me, I was just tending to this garden. My parents are normally away managing the farms that they own outside of town and I have not moved out yet, so I often work here while I am not at the church.”

            **Yeah, I know, more early in story exposition.**

            Kyla nodded and was about to say something when Stephan interjected, “Miss Delilah, the reason that we are here is because we are looking for potential team mates so that we can join the Pokémon Adventurers Guild.”

            Delilah paused and then smiled at the duo. saying, “Well, I have wanted to go on adventures for quite some time. As long as we stay within the Alliance Territory for most of the time, I should be ok. Why don’t I treat you two to lunch at the café nearby and we can get to know each other better?” Kyla and Stephan agreed and the three of them left the premises with Delilah making sure the fence gate was securely locked behind them.

            **It seems that Delilah only locks the gate when no one is at her house. That seems to make sense.**

            At the café down and across the street Delilah, Kyla and Stephen took their seats at a table outside and started looking at the menu. After ordering their food and drinks, the three of them were about to begin conversing when Kyla heard some noise and glanced down the street. She saw a pair of Rhydon working on a large house, which currently was under construction and just consisted of a series of wooden beams at the moment.

            Delilah saw that Kyla was looking at the construction site and said, “Those two Rhydon are apprentices of Rhyperior, who owns the construction company in Polumbos Town. Rhyperior is an excellent engineer who oversaw the building of the town hall and the various repairs and renovations that the church has undergone.”

            **That construction company comes up again. But not in a way that is massively important to the story.**

            Kyla and Stephan both nodded and then Delilah asked, “Now that we are here, and since you two are trying to recruit me to your team, tell me about yourselves.”

            Kyla tried to fight looking awkward and then quickly smiled at Delilah and said, “Sure we will, right Stephan?”

            Stephan nodded at Kyla and then told Delilah, “I will go first. Then Kyla after me, then you, ok?” Delilah agreed and then Stephan told her about his past, mainly how he grew up in Riverton and then had recently moved to Polumbos where he had met Kyla earlier that day. Stephan surprised Kyla slightly when he admitted that he was gay to Delilah. Delilah’s reaction was nothing more than a raise of an eyebrow until Stephan explained that his mother had forcefully expelled him from his family. After that, Delilah looked considerably more sympathetic.

            **I think that when homophobia occurs in this setting, it does not necessarily follow a pattern in terms of location. Older Pokémon are probably more prone to it than younger ones, however.**  

            Then it was Kyla’s turn. During Stephan’s speech, she had decided that she had no choice about telling Delilah her full story, considering that Stephan already knew about her criminal past, and that she and Delilah could be adventuring together in the near future. Kyla told Delilah the whole story of her life thus far: she began with being raised as a young child by her mother, then her mother’s disappearance and then her trying to survive as an orphan, and how she came across a gang of outlaws led by a female Monferno. How she was allowed to join up, got partnered up with her fellow Riolu Alana and how they engaged in various raids against merchant caravans and travelers and then how her and Alana were ambushed and captured by Akira and her two younger brothers. The deputies had sniped them with Icy Wind attacks from a distance and behind cover until they fainted. She then described them being taken to the prison and sentenced to a year of incarceration by Sheriff Mamoswine. Kyla ended her story with her release and her having split up with Alana, as well as the verbal abuse she suffered from Hans. Delilah clearly did not expect to hear such a story and stayed quiet for a few moments after Kyla had finished.

            As Delilah was seemingly contemplating Kyla’s life story, Kyla tried to look calm on the outside. Stephan seemed interested in knowing when the trio’s food was going to arrive, looking for their server. Kyla thought, “I really hope that she does not become another Hans. Hopefully she instead proves that asshole wrong by being willing to adventure with me and Stephan.”

            **Another one of ROC’s few swears shows up. Also, if memory serves, my beta reader thought that the part where Stephan was looking for their food was funny.**  

            Delilah, after moments of silence took a deep breath and then, looking directly at Kyla, said, “I am actually really sorry to hear about the sort of life that you have led. You don’t seem like someone who would deserve such an existence. I am sorry about your mother, and I am sorry that you had to lead a life of crime out of desperation. I have to say that I am impressed at your drive to escape your past and I would be happy to travel with you and Stephan here.”

            **And so, Kyla gets closer to proving Hans wrong…**

            Kyla beamed at Delilah and replied, “Thank you so much, I really appreciate your trust. As I mentioned before, someone who works for the Guild who I have encountered twice thinks that I am a scumbag who does not deserve to be trusted.”

            Delilah nodded saying, “You told me about Hans, you actually spent quite a lot of time talking about how he denounced you. I don’t believe that you deserved that abuse.”

            **Yeah, Kyla still is not nearly over Hans’s treatment of her.**

             Kyla continued to smile warmly at Delilah, and then Delilah began her story. As it turned out, Delilah’s life so far had been less dramatic than either Stephan’s or Kyla’s. She still lived with her parents in the house where Kyla and Stephan had met her. Her parents were in charge of a number of farms just outside of town, as Delilah had mentioned before. Kyla learned that Polumbos Town’s outskirts were home to both an old quarry used by Rhyperior’s construction company. There was also a large number of farms, which harvested a variety of plants for use in food as well as a forest to the west of Polumbos, where trees were cut down to use in the creation of buildings and furniture. Delilah continued, saying that her parents had made quite a bit of money from the land they owned and still employed many Pokémon. They had therefore been able to afford a large house. Delilah had gotten a taste for combat in the past when she had worked for her family by guarding some of the farms from attacks by wild Pokémon and bandits, along with some of the other employees. Delilah had retired from that job recently and had spent her recent time either gardening or volunteering for Blissey’s church. However, she had expressed a desire to spend some time in the P.A.G. to Sunflora on multiple occasions.

            After Delilah finished describing her life, the trio’s meals arrived, and they eagerly dug in. Stephan exclaimed, after the waiter had left, “Finally!”

            **I think that Stephan was polite enough to wait until their waiter was out of earshot to express his opinion on how long the food took.**  

            After they finished their meals, Kyla said, “Now that we have a team of three, we just need to locate one more member. The issue is, we have no leads on a fourth.”

            Delilah and Stephan nodded and began to think of where to go next. Delilah, as promised, paid for their meals and the three of them got up and started walking away from the café.

            As they were heading back to the inn, where Kyla and Stephan were staying, Delilah got an idea. She began, “I think we should head to the town hall. A lot of the local residents gather in the main square frequently. Maybe we can ask to put up flyers, or even find someone in the square, or in the town hall proper.”

            Kyla and Stephan agreed. They both knew that Delilah had lived in Polumbos Town longer than either of them. The trio walked into the town square and then made a beeline for the tower that served as the Polumbos Town hall.        

**And now, we are on our way to getting the full team together.**


	5. Completing the Team

            Kyla, Delilah and Stephan walked into the ground floor of the Polumbos Town Hall. The interior of the building was lit by a combination of sunlight from the windows and some torches. The walls were brown with a green floor. A spiral staircase wrapping around the outer part of the first floor led to the second floor, where Kyla had been told Mayor Armaldo’s office was located. There was also a ladder leading up to the second floor, for those that could climb it. The ground floor had a number of chairs for meetings strewn around it as well as a desk on the opposite side of the room from where the trio had entered. There was a Machop sitting behind the desk, who Delilah said had received the honor of being the mayor’s official assistant.

            **Mayor Armaldo is one of the few non-legendary characters in ROC to never get an actual name, along with Chansey and Mother Blissey.**

            As Kyla got a better view of the desk and saw another Pokémon who was talking with the mayor’s assistant her blood froze. It was not Hans, but it was someone else who Kyla recognized, another Machop. Kyla did not remember his name, even though she knew that he had one. However, she remembered him as a frequent volunteer at the prison who had assisted Akira, Mamoswine and the other deputies in their duties. Kyla also knew that he was not fond of criminals at all and that he had helped in the assault on Monferno’s gang, in which she had been arrested.

            As Kyla snapped back to reality, she saw her two comrades walking toward the desk, for they saw no problem with doing so. Kyla followed carefully in behind Delilah, hoping that the Machop standing next to the desk would not recognize her. The Machop behind the desk, walked over to the ladder, saying he needed to speak with the Mayor as the trio approached the desk.

            The other Machop smiled at the visitors and then said, “Hello Delilah, my brother just needs to have a conversation with his boss for a few minutes. So your friends know, my name is Chadwick, or Chad for short.”

            **In writing this story I alternated between using Chad and Chadwick for that character without any rhyme or reason. Also, I edited this scene later before the initial posting to have Chad recognize Delilah when I remembered that they were friends before the story began.**

             Just as Delilah was opening her mouth, Chad got a good look at Kyla and pointed at her asking, “What are you doing here? I remember you…Kyla wasn’t it? Last time I saw you, you were locked up. Why are you in Polumbos Town?”

            Kyla staggered back, feeling deeply upset that he had not only recognized her, but that he had had to bring up her past immediately upon recognizing her. She quickly collected herself and then replied, “I was released yesterday. I have moved here to start a new life of sorts, if you have to know. I am impressed that you remember my name, to be frank.”

            Chad then looked over at Kyla’s companions again and asked them politely, “What are you two here for?” and then less politely, “Are you with her?”

            Delilah and Stephan nodded and then Stephan said, “The three of us are trying to form a team so we can join the P.A.G., and we were hoping to get permission and possibly some help in posting flyers around town.”

            Chad nodded and then looked at Stephan and Delilah and asked, “You two know that she is an outlaw, right? Sorry to be so blunt, but I would not trust her as an ally.”

            **It seems that most Pokémon in town were willing to trust Kyla. However, the few that did not seemed to automatically act quite harshly towards her. Maybe if I ever write a story in the future with an ex-con character I will have others act in a more balanced way towards them.**  

            Delilah face-palmed, while Stephan just gave Chad a really nasty glare. Chad raised his arms defensively, saying as calmly as he could, “I am just trying to help you two out, I think that Kyla here could easily betray you to any other gangs you might encounter. Once a crook, always a crook.”

            **I believe that Hans and Chad’s behavior towards Kyla reminded one of my friends who read the story of Les Mis, with its characters Jean Val jean and Inspector Javert. I hope that I spelled those names correctly.**

            Kyla just folded her arms, determined not to show any weaknesses in the face of her critic. Delilah said, “With all due respect, Chadwick, we really do not need your advice on who to trust. It was Kyla’s idea to start the team anyway and she really seems to want to turn her life around.”

            Stephen continued, “Now can you be quiet about Kyla while we wait to have your brother give us a permit to post flyers around town?”

            **Once again, Stephan acts quite defensive when Kyla is criticized. It seems like her being his first friend in a while has made him very protective of her.**

             Chadwick thought for a moment and responded, “You know what? You may not need to post up any flyers. I would like to join your team, actually.” The trio all cocked their heads in confusion, then Chad continued, “You need a fourth member and I am quite experienced in combat, since I have helped the local law enforcers before, and even helped to guard the quarry and some local caravans. A stable job for the Guild could be good for me. Also I want to protect you two, despite your naïveté, when Kyla’s criminal instincts kick in.”

            **The whole head-cocking thing that some of my characters do is based on a thing that my dog does.**

            Delilah and Stephan were about to both simultaneously declare that they did not want Chad in their team, when Kyla spoke up, “Fine, you can join us.” Delilah and Stephan whirled around and stared at Kyla with their jaws dropped. Chadwick himself even looked somewhat surprised.

            Kyla said to Chadwick, “If you really are as experienced in combat as you say you are, then you should be a good ally to have around. Also, I want to prove to you, if possible, that I do not have what you call ‘criminal instincts’, and hopefully you will come to trust me at some point.”

            Chadwick then said, “In that case why don’t we all meet up at the Guild’s office tomorrow morning to work things out.” Everyone agreed to Chad’s plan, but it was very clear that Delilah and Stephan were very nervous about Chad entering the team, due to his treatment of Kyla.

            **It really does seem like Kyla makes a good first impression on many who meet her. Except for the few who despise her for her status as a former criminal.**  

            After leaving the building the trio split up. Delilah was going back home, Kyla was going to return to the inn and Stephan did not specify where he was going to the others.

            **The question of where Stephan goes is answered later on, of course.**

            As Kyla began the trek south through Polumbos Town to reach Chansey’s inn she thought to herself about the events of the day so far, “I am quite excited about being able to prove Hans wrong. The last piece of the puzzle is to get officially recognized as a P.A.G. team, and then I guess that the real work will begin. I really hope that, once Chadwick gets to know me, he will see that I am doing my best and that I never plan to return to crime.” Kyla also expressed some thanks to herself for the kindness of her potential teammates Delilah and Stephan; they both seemed like great long-term friends for her.

            Kyla returned to the inn and got some rest for the remainder of the afternoon. Then, she ate dinner with Stephan absent, and finally went to sleep afterwards.

            Kyla got up the next day, watched the sunrise as usual and then went downstairs to get her breakfast. It turned out that Stephan was there waiting for her. Stephan looked over at Kyla and asked her, “Hey Kyla, can we talk before we go to the Guild office today?”

            Kyla nodded yes, and the two of them sat down to breakfast together. After finishing up eating, Stephan began, “I am sort of worried about letting this Chadwick join our team. Delilah actually seems like a great Pokémon to associate with, so she is not an issue. It’s just that Chad seems to be a lot like Hans in that he is biased against you, even though he is willing to work with you for now.”

            Kyla listened carefully to Stephan and then responded, “Well, he is supposedly the best fighter among us, so he should be an invaluable asset when things get rough. Also, I want to see if I can convince someone who is biased against me to change his way of thinking. It may not be doable, but I want to try. Also, you and Delilah should be able to help me keep him in check, just in case. It’s not like he can perform a citizen’s arrest on me without me doing anything illegal. Trust me, if he ends up being not worth it then we can just vote to remove him from the group and find a new member. Besides, finding him has saved us some time, and we can try to register as a P.A.G. team today, if possible.”

            **Kyla is so determined to prove Hans wrong that she ends up allowing someone like him into her team. It just goes to show how much she has set her mind on Guild membership.**

            Stephen sighed, and then said, “Ok Kyla, it’s just that I do not want you to be around someone who just criticizes you all the time and treats you like crap.”

            **And we have a semi-swear word. Also it’s a confirmation that the Pokémon of ROC do create waste products.**

            Kyla nodded and then patted Stephan on the back, saying, “You are a very good friend Stephan. Now, we should get over to the Guild’s office.” Stephan agreed, and the two friends left the inn and walked over to the office.

            When Stephan and Kyla arrived, they found that Chad and Delilah were already there, waiting for them. Delilah walked over to Stephan and Kyla, saying, “I was trying to convince Chadwick that he should give you the benefit of the doubt. He told me that he takes me seriously because we both know each other, but that he still does not trust criminals.”

            Kyla sighed briefly and then walked past Chad, who did not even say anything to her, and then rang the bell. Sunflora came up to the desk and looked the four partners and then came to the realize what was happening in short order. “Oh,” she said, mainly to Kyla and Stephan, “You have managed to get four Pokémon together to form a team, let me go grab the contracts.” Sunflora dashed into the back room and came back with four short stacks of paper. She gave ink quill pens to all four Pokémon and they began to read over the Guild membership contracts.

            The basics were explained: that they would be allowed to go on independent missions for legal clients, and that they would have to go on Guild missions on occasion, which may or may not involve monetary compensation. The Guild missions would generally involve advancing the cause of Guild Master Zoroark and his research. After all four of them signed their contracts with the pens, Sunflora took the contracts to the backroom to file them and then returned with an odd looking pole in her arms which had a P.A.G. badge, which looked super-heated, stuck on the end of it. “Who wants to go first?” She asked.

            **I think my beta reader found the “branding” scene interesting as a way to explain how the badges are given out.**

            Chad volunteered to go first, and Sunflora quickly prodded him in the chest had with the pole. The pole implanted the badge into his chest. Chad looked like he was doing his best not to scream in pain as the badge was seared into his skin. Sunflora apologized for the pain she had caused him and then Delilah agreed to go next, she thought that since she was a Fire-Type she would be able to resist the pain from being implanted. However, she was mostly incorrect. Delilah hissed in pain as her chest was implanted with the guild badge.

            According to Sunflora, the Guild’s badges would not fall off even if/when the user evolved and they were almost impossible to remove in most cases. Stephan went next and then after he was implanted it was Kyla’s turn. She was the last one. Kyla braced herself as Sunflora loaded the final badge then implanted it into Kyla’s mid-section, Kyla just barely avoided screaming as she felt the intense burning pain on her skin and fur, thankfully the pain dissipated shortly after the badge had been implanted. 

            **Apparently, the Guild wants even its retired members to bear their mark of service, since the badges are basically un-removable.**

            Sunflora surveyed her handiwork and declared, “Congratulations, you all are now an official team of the Pokémon Adventurers Guild. And you are only the second team that has been formed in this town. You might want to be come up with a team name eventually. However, for now you are registered as team Polumbos #2, the first team actually calls itself team Polumbos, so that name is taken.”

            **Yeah, I never got around to naming Kyla’s team or the team in the sequel. Sometimes I do well with names. Sometimes… I come up with nothing.**

            “We will figure that out later,” Kyla said. The four of them saluted Sunflora and then exited the building. Chad then told his new teammates, “We should start by looking for a comparatively easy first job, so we can prove ourselves without getting ahead of ourselves. We can most likely find one at the Town Hall, if anywhere.” All of the others, including Kyla, nodded in agreement and the four of them began walking over to the center of town.

            As the team got close to the center of town, they saw Sunflora running after them They quickly stopped to let her catch up. Sunflora was carrying a silvery metallic box with a black handle on it. She caught up to them and then said to the new team, “Here is your team toolbox. It has room for 20 items, which you will have to supply, of course. The toolbox uses reverse engineered human technology to store more than it looks like it can. Sorry, I forgot to give it to you guys before.”

            **My beta reader thought that the idea of Sunflora running was hilarious. Maybe it was the inherent comedy of a running plant?**

            Chad took the toolbox from Sunflora and gave her a salute, saying, “We will take good care of this. It should most certainly come in handy. Thank you for making sure we had it before our first mission.” Sunflora saluted back and waved to the team as she started walking back to the Guild Office. 

            **Another reference to the actual PMD games. Specifically, the original Rescue Team games in this case.**

            The team walked into the center of town and then walked over to the town hall. There, Chad led his new teammates over to the bulletin board just outside of the town hall. All four of them scanned the board for jobs. Most of them, however, were minor things like help wanted posts for farms or stores. Then, the team’s eyes collectively drifted over to the center of the board, where there was one large notice posted.

            **The bulletin board is of course another reference to the Rescue Team Games, and the other PMD games to a lesser extant.**  

            The notice had the signature of Mayor Armaldo on it, as well as what Chad recognized as his brother’s signature. After he pointed out the signatures, the group began to read it. The notice described the presence in the area of a gang of outlaws led by a Sableye who was believed to be a career criminal who had immigrated to the Alliance Territory from the west and had recently begun to amass a small number of supporters. He had used a pair of Kecleon, who had pretended to be merchants, to trick, surprise attack and rob a trading caravan in the area. The notice also said that one of his followers had nearly been arrested but was freed by his comrades. The notice suggested that the total size of Sableye’s organization was likely fewer than 10 members at the time of posting. The final section of the notice said that Sableye and his followers had been sighted in the plains just west of Polumbos Town, even though it was unclear where their camp was, if they even had one. A reward for Sableye’s capture of 3,000 Poke per Pokémon who participated in the mission was being offered.

            **In my setting, Kecleon are not any less common or more powerful than other Pokémon, unlike in the main PMD games. They still are frequently merchants, though.**

            After the team finished reading the notice Kyla was the first to speak, saying, “I have a theory as to why this Sableye is here now. It is possible that he got news of how Monferno and her gang members were all arrested, and then decided to move in to the territory. With the last major criminal organization in the territory out of the way, he could more easily establish himself as a criminal leader by rallying the leaderless crooks of the region around him. He might not have a very big gang yet because local both the local criminals, and possibly Sableye himself, are afraid of having what happened to Monferno and her organization happening to them.”

            **That is why having an ex-criminal on your side can be a good thing.**

            Stephan responded, “You mean they are afraid of a major raid. Well, for now Mayor Armaldo seems to have delegated this to whoever wants the reward, rather than ordering Sherriff Mamoswine to lead an assault, which would leave the prison less effectively guarded.”

            Chad nodded and then pointed out, “I believe that my brother discussed this with the mayor yesterday while I discussed forming a team with you all.”

            Delilah then chimed in, “Going after this group could be risky, but it is the only major job currently available and if we pull it off, we can establish ourselves as a respectable Guild team relatively quickly.”

            Chad then turned to Kyla and told her, “Well, if we take this job, I am keeping a very close eye on you. You have been an outlaw, and you clearly know quite a bit about how they operate. I think you would jump at the chance to return to the only line of ‘work’ you know.”

            **It looks like Chadwick has not yet realized Kyla’s actual motivation.**

            Kyla just rubbed her hand on her forehead in annoyance, replying to Chad while not even bothering to look at him, “You are just like Hans! I can assure you that I am not deceiving any of you to betray you to criminals. I should also add that I have no real connection to this Sableye and I REALLY do not want to return to crime, because I know what sort of life that is, and I never want to experience it again!”

            **This seems to be Kyla’s usual response to her morality being criticized.**  

            Chad just nodded, but he did not seem to take what Kyla had said seriously. Stephan, after giving a quick glare to Chad, said, “Well, let’s take the job and head out to the plains either today or tomorrow, and see if we can bring Sableye in, along with as many of his followers as we can!”

            Delilah simply nodded her agreement and then Kyla said, “I agree, I do not want Sableye’s organization to get strong enough to the point where a larger attack force is needed. Let’s nip this problem in the bud.”

            Chad then stepped up to the bulletin board and took the notice off. “I will go inside and confirm that we have taken the job,” he said. Chad walked into the town hall and then, moments later, he came back without the notice and told his teammates, “Job taken.” Then he looked straight at Kyla and, using a completely serious tone of voice, told her, “I intend to keep my eye on you though, and if you do betray us you are going right back to prison.”

            Kyla kept calm, despite being internally terrified of the idea of being brought back to prison. She then replied, “Ok, IF I betray you then you have every right to return me to prison, but if I do not then you have to admit you were wrong to the whole team, deal?”

            Chadwick just smiled faintly at Kyla and responded, “Deal.” The two of them shook hands to seal their deal, with both of them employing a firm grip.

            **As we learn later, Chad does take the deals he makes quite seriously.**

            Delilah then said, “Let’s move out then, we should start on our way today and try to locate Sableye as soon as possible.” The newly minted team then walked out of Polumbos Town and began heading into the woods west of town in order to reach the grassy plains beyond the forest.

            **Well, that concludes the opening arc of the story. The team is complete and about to embark on their first mission.**


	6. The Hunt for Sableye

            Kyla and her three teammates, Stephan, Delilah and Chadwick, were close to reaching the western edge of the forest outside of Polumbos Town. The forest was actually relatively safe from wild Pokémon due to its close proximity to civilization. In fact, many civilized Pokémon worked as loggers and would also collect berries, seeds and other useful items from the forest.

            Before leaving town, the team had gone to a shop run by a pair of Kecleon and purchased four Oran Berries for healing as well as two Reviver Seeds, for bringing downed team members back to consciousness, and two Heal Seeds for removing status conditions. Delilah and Chad had been nice enough to split the costs between just the two of them. This was because the two of them were wealthier than Stephan and Kyla. Also, Stephan and Kyla had left their money in their respective rooms at the inn.

            **I had to work in another reference to the original games by including a Kecleon Shop in Polumbos Town.**

            As they reached the edge of the woods, Stephan turned to Chad and asked him, “So… Chadwick, tell us something about yourself.”

            Chad looked over at Stephan and then began, “Well… my father is actually an Electivire, but my mother is a Machamp. We live close to the city hall. My father occupies a high-ranking position in the quarry outside of Polumbos as a supervisor and works closely with Rhyperior. That is how we made our money. Since I was young, I always admired Mayor Armaldo, both for his leadership and diplomatic skills in founding and managing Polumbos Town, and making it a large and successful settlement.”

            He then looked over to Kyla and said, “I also have always admired Mamoswine and his helpers for keeping the territory safe from wild Pokémon packs, as well as crooks. I have worked for the sheriff before, but now I want the comparative degree of independence that comes with being part of a team like this. Of course, I still want to work to improve our society, especially by locking away criminals.”

            Stephan and Delilah rolled their eyes and Kyla folded her arms and looked away, saying to Chad, “Remember our deal: if I do my part and make no attempt to betray OUR team, then you need to realize that I am no longer an outlaw and act accordingly.”

            Chad nodded. “I know,” he said to her. To Kyla’s surprise, sounding quite sincere. 

            **Since he views himself as a Gentlemon, Chadwick has no intention of going back on his promises.**

            The team crossed over from the forest into the plains. Soon after that, the open ground became dirty and grassless. However, pockets of very tall, dark green, thick grass marked the plains. The team stuck together and began walking west across the plains. They avoided the grass when they could, out of fear of an ambush. As the day moved into the afternoon, the team was considering stopping to eat some food, which they had packed in the toolbox, when Delilah, seemingly having seen something, told the team to hide in a nearby patch of tall grass. As they did so, Delilah pointed ahead to a clearing where they saw a Sableye, with a primitive sort of backpack on, talking to a Glaceon. The team could not hear what the conversation entailed. But they agreed that they had found their mark and someone whom they assumed was one of his followers. 

            Chadwick quietly asked his teammates, “So, any plans guys?”

            Delilah said, “We need to make sure that Sableye does not escape. He is the ringleader, so we need to bring him down.”

            Stephan then whispered, “Chad and Kyla should attack the Glaceon, while Delilah and I try to snipe Sableye with energy-based attacks.”

             Kyla then said, “Sadly, I do not know any Fighting-Type moves yet. I have been trying to learn Force Palm for quite a while. I can still use foresight on Sableye to make him vulnerable to Normal and Fighting Type moves.”

            **Yes, that conversation was one of the most RPG-y conversations in the entire series.**

            Chad then said, “We do outnumber them now, we could try to force a surrender. But then again, Sableye at least should be an experienced fighter and they should know that fighting us will at least give them a chance at not being taken to prison.”

            Kyla added, “We should act fast, before they leave or more gang members show up.”

            Chad thought for a moment and then decided, “I think we should charge out and surprise them. We could set up a multi-sided ambush, but then we would be separated from each other, and one or more of us might get seen before we could spring the trap.” The other three team members agreed, with the addition that Kyla would use foresight on Sableye as a precaution, and then Delilah and Stephan would try to bring Sableye down from range while the other two rushed the Glaceon.

            With Kyla and Chadwick at the front, and Delilah and Stephan at the back, the team charged out into the clearing to confront Sableye and Glaceon. The two outlaws turned to face their attackers, not looking very surprised. Sableye said, “Well, hello there.”  

            The team were all confused as to why Sableye was expecting them, and Chadwick even turned to look at Kyla as though this was her fault. Sableye continued, as he got behind the Glaceon, “My scouts actually saw your group emerge from the forest. Me and my associate here have been trying to draw you out, and you fell for it.”

            **And so, the hunted tries to become the hunter.**  

            All four of the team members felt a sense of dread as a pair of Kecleon stood up and emerged from the tall grass on each flank of the group, and slightly to the back. Sableye then waved at the team, saying, “I will leave my subordinates to deal with you. Goodbye.”

             Delilah shouted, “I am not letting you escape!” As Sableye turned to leave she bolted after him. “Delilah!” shouted the others, as all Kyla could do, as a Kecleon closed in on her, was to use foresight on Sableye as he fled.

            Chadwick saw that the Glaceon was not trying to block Delilah from reaching the fleeing Sableye, but he charged her nonetheless to prevent her from sniping his allies. 

            **I think that the combat scenes in this chapter are among the best that I wrote for this series. Later on, they became mass-produced and generic, even in my opinion.**

            Stephen turned to face the other Kecleon as he and Kyla went back-to-back and prepared to fight off their attackers.

\---

            Delilah ran past the Glaceon, who seemed too busy trying to deal with the incoming Chadwick, and began to pursue Sableye. She was too focused on her task to realize how far away she was getting from her allies, and the toolbox. She chased Sableye across the plains; he was avoiding the tall grass and so was she. Delilah was unsure of where her quarry was running to, but soon he stopped next to a tree past some tall grass. Delilah almost immediately breathed an Ember at Sableye, which hit him, but only seemed to cause a slight burn on his shoulder.

            As Delilah prepared for a fight, Sableye just smiled, showing his jagged teeth, and then snapped his fingers. He said, “You really think that I would have run for no purpose?”

            **Sableye could have probably stood with his allies and fought the team. Maybe they would have won in that case?**

            A pair of Meowth emerged from the tall grass behind Delilah and each one grabbed one of her arms. Together, they threw her to the ground. Sableye just watched as Delilah managed to punch one of the Meowth standing over her in the face, which only seemed to distract him momentarily as his comrade dug one of his claws into Delilah’s chest with his Scratch attack.

            Delilah then fired an Ember in retaliation, but her foe evaded it. The other Meowth used Bite on her arm. She felt faint as the Meowth who had just dodged her attack plunged his claw into her one last time. Delilah fainted from her injuries.

            The two Meowth dusted themselves off and one said, “All part of the plan, right boss?”

            Sableye nodded and pulled something out of his pack. It was a pair of inhibitor handcuffs. He then bound the unconscious Delilah’s wrists with them, and then had his Meowth pick her up and carry her. “Back to camp!” Sableye commanded his minions.

            **They did not handcuff Delilah behind her back because that would expose her restraints to the fire on her rear end.**

            One of the Meowth asked, “Boss, what about Glaceon and the others?”

            Sableye responded, “They may or may not win their fight. If they do, they will return to camp victorious. If not… they are no longer essential and their arrest is an acceptable loss.” The Meowth nodded and began carrying their captive away.

\---

            Back in the clearing, Kyla had lost track of Delilah and Sableye as she and Stephan prepared to fight off their attackers. Chad impacted Glaceon with a Karate Chop, which severely injured her. However, she quickly recovered and focused on him.

            Stephan fired a Water Gun at his Kecleon. The move hit, and seemed to have injured the target, but then Stephan’s foe turned blue and Stephan remembered what was tricky about Kecleon: they changed type when hit by most moves. 

            **Another reason that this fight is one of the more interesting ones in the series.**

            The Kecleon on both sides fired off Shadow Sneak attacks, hitting both Kyla and Stephan from a short distance. 

            Kyla responded with a Quick Attack against her foe, which injured him, and did not affect his Color Change ability.

            Stephan then realized what he could do to inflict the greatest possible harm on his foe. He picked up some dirt from the ground and used it as a Mud Slap, which struck the Kecleon, blinding him temporarily as mud caked over his eyes.

            **That was my way of depicting accuracy loss.**

            Meanwhile Kyla dodged the second Shadow Sneak, and then charged her foe with a punch to the chest. Kecleon fought back with a Scratch to Kyla’s gut, which forced her to stagger back.

            **It looks like I also depicted where individual attacks were hitting in more detail back then.**

            Stephan, on the other hand, had the advantage over his foe now. As the Kecleon flailed wildly with Scratches, now Ground Type, Stephan fired a Water Gun into the Kecleon’s head with the now Super-Effective attack, knocking him out.

            **Normally whenever an attack hits a Pokémon in the head, I count it as a critical hit.**

            Kyla kept swinging her fists at her opponent, and then she dodged another Shadow Sneak aimed at her. After landing another punch, she saw Kecleon preparing to use Ancient Power as rocks started floating around him. However, as that happened, Stephan blasted Kyla’s foe with another Water Gun, which disoriented him enough that Kyla was able to step back and Quick Attack him unconscious.            

                As that was happening, Chad avoided a Tackle from the Glaceon and the used a Low Kick on her underside. Glaceon, now desperate, managed to hit Chad with an Icy Wind, which slowed down his movements, as well as harming him. As Glaceon was about to retreat, Chad, despite being slowed, hit her in the side with a Karate Chop, bringing her down.

            As the three injured allies regrouped, they all had one question on their minds: where were Delilah and Sableye? However, they had three unconscious criminals to deal with first. Chad pulled a pair of inhibitor cuffs out of the toolbox, which he had been carrying strapped to his back.

            Kyla asked, “Where did you get those? You were not planning to use those on me, right?”

            Chad responded, as he bound Glaceon’s front legs with the cuffs, “I normally carry a pair on missions for circumstances like this, I was planning to use these on Sableye to be honest. I have been licensed by the Sheriff to carry them.”

            **Normally, private use of activated Power Inhibitors is illegal in most areas of the setting that have access to them.**

            Kyla nodded as Stephan dragged the two Kecleon together. Chad then said, “We should tie the Kecleon to a nearby tree in a way that should make it hard for them to use their claws. Hopefully that will hold them.” He picked up the Glaceon and threw her over his shoulder, continuing, “I will take her with us, hopefully we can interrogate her when she wakes up. We need to begin trying to track Delilah and Sableye.”

            After they bound the two Kecleon to a tree, on opposite sides from each other, the trio, with their unconscious prisoner, began walking north, following the tracks left when Delilah chased Sableye.

            The trio, with their captive over Chad’s shoulder, found the tracks easy enough to follow as they wound around the patches of tall grass, and eventually they reached the spot next to the tree where they saw two new pairs of tracks emerging from tall grass, as well as Sableye’s tracks temporarily stopping. They searched the area carefully, but they discovered that they could find no trace of Delilah, Sableye, or any other Pokémon. They soon realized that Sableye and his minions must have used the tall grass to carefully conceal their footsteps on the way back to their camp.

            Chad put the Glaceon down on the ground saying, “Well, I think we will need to interrogate this Glaceon. I have a bad feeling that our friend Delilah fell into a trap.”

            Kyla replied, “If they captured her somehow, then we need to put rescuing her as our top priority. We have mostly walked off our injuries by now, we just need to find these outlaw’s camp.”

            **That is a reference to how Pokémon can regenerate health in PMD, unlike in the core games.**

            Chad nodded and then said, “I do not want to waste a Reviver Seed on her though, we might have to wait for her to wake up and then make her tell us where the camp is.”

            Stephan then chimed in, “Agreed. We will need her to find out where Sableye is headed and hopefully we can learn why he took a captive. The fact that he did not stand and face us with his supporters shows that he wanted to lure one of us away from their allies and into his clutches.”

            The three team members then made a small temporary camp and ate some food from their toolbox as they awaited Glaceon’s awakening.

\---

            Meanwhile, Sableye and his two Meowth had been very careful to stick to the tall grass on their way back to camp. Delilah had woken up about two-thirds of the way back, which relieved the Meowth, who had been carrying her together, as they could then march her the rest of the way. Delilah had been gagged with a piece of cloth. Normally she could just burn it away with an Ember, but with the inhibitor cuffs on she could not use any moves. Also, the Meowth made sure that she could not move her arms, which were bound in front of her back, high enough to remove her gag and call for help.

\--- 

            Glaceon woke up after a few hours, cuffed and surrounded by an angry looking group consisting of Kyla, Stephan and Chadwick.

            Kyla looked the Glaceon in the eyes and told her, “Tell us where Sableye’s camp is, and what he wants with our friend!” Chad and Stephan nodded in agreement with Kyla.

            The Glaceon, realizing she had no route of escape, began, “I will take you to his camp only if you put in a good word for me with the Sheriff and his deputies. I would like a reduced sentence in exchange for my cooperation. Also, ideally do not let Sableye know that I helped you whether or not you can defeat him, do we have a deal?”

            **Glaceon did not waste any time trying to resist. She knew when she had lost.**  

            Kyla and the others said in unison, “Yes.” Then the Glaceon, getting used to walking with her front legs restrained, began leading the team north.

            The Glaceon, as they walked through the grassy plains, told her captors, who were closely following her, “As for your ally, Sableye wanted for one of you to chase him. He had a trap laid with his two Meowth bodyguards. He needs a hostage. That is why, unfortunately, he will not accept a prisoner exchange. He wants to be able to vacate the area. If I had been able to stop you I would be joining him, but of course I did not.”  

\---

            When Delilah and her captors arrived at the small series of tents with a campfire that made up Sableye’s camp, it was evening. Delilah was sat down on a log next to the campfire, with the one Meowth acting as a lookout and another sitting next to her holding one of her arms.

            Sableye walked up to Delilah and stood directly in front of her. He then swung a claw at her face. Delilah closed her eyes, but discovered when she opened them that he had just removed her gag.

            Sableye then told her, “Don’t cry out now, if you know what’s good for you. I want to make sure that you are fed before the night is over, and you cannot eat while gagged, obviously.”

            Delilah was quite confused and scared, but she maintained a defiant face in front of her captor. She asked, in a tone of voice that did its best to show none of her fear, “What do you want with me? What are you going to do with me?”

             Sableye smiled one of his toothy smiles and responded, “That takes a bit of explaining, but since I have you as my captive now it can make for some good dinner conversation.” Sableye had his lookout bring some food over. Delilah did her best to eat while both cuffed and being carefully watched by the Meowth next to her.

            Sableye sat down on a nearby tree stump, as it kept getting darker, and began, “You see miss, I am a transient criminal, I move from one region to another. When I arrive at a new place, I either join a pre-existing organization or start my own. I pull off as many ‘jobs’ as I can, and then I move on. The two Meowth who helped me abduct you are my personal henchman, my only two permanent associates.”

             Delilah nodded, afraid to speak up during her captor’s speech. Sableye continued, “I got those cuffs you’re wearing by freeing one of my henchman from them when he was almost arrested recently. Now, the reason I have gone to the trouble of taking you captive is that I know that this territory has very active law enforcement. I have decided to spend less time here than I normally would. Now that I have your life in my hands I can use you as a bargaining chip.”

            Delilah worriedly cocked her head. Sableye sighed and continued, “You, miss, are my hostage. I will return you to Polumbos Town, or at least release you unharmed, in exchange for safe passage out of the Alliance Territory. Then, I will head off to the east with my two bodyguards and continue building my ill-gotten fortune. …Now, tell me about yourself.”

            Delilah knew that if she told Sableye who her parents were that she would be seen as an even better hostage. She hated being a tool in his game. As she finished her food, Delilah just responded, “I think I will keep the details of my identity to myself, thank you.”

            Sableye finished his food, walked right up to her and aimed a claw at her throat, asking, “Why deny me the details of your identity, miss? I think there must be a reason you are withholding information from me. You know that you are in my claws, for now.”

            **Sableye, like Kyla, does not like being told no.**

            Delilah was terrified, but was being held by the Meowth. She then realized the perfect response. “Not so fast,” she began, “You need me as a hostage, and I do not want to tell you more about myself, you need me alive so you do not have to take another captive. So, I would just let it go if I were you. I’m no good to you dead.”

            **Delilah shows the ability to think fast under pressure here.**

            Sableye nodded and responded, “Clever girl. We have an understanding then.” As it grew darker, Sableye stayed near the campfire, chatting with the lookout Meowth. He ordered the Meowth guarding Delilah to take her to a spare tent and let her sleep, but keep a watch over her.

            **Jurassic Park Reference! I would bet that plenty of my readers got that one, however.**

            Delilah was marched over to a tent, where she was allowed to lay down on a straw bed where she fell asleep soon after. Before dosing off, Delilah could not help but wonder where her allies were. She was more concerned about their wellbeing then their ability to rescue her.

            **I think that that was the only part of the story told from Delilah’s point of view. Stephan and Chadwick each get similar short scenes later on. Their scenes are in different circumstances, though.**

\---

            Delilah’s three allies and their prisoner spent the next couple hours, as the sky darkened, traveling to Sableye’s camp. When the team members could see the campfire, they gagged Glaceon and tied her to a nearby tree with her inhibitors still on, so none of them would have to guard her.

            Kyla, Stephan and Chadwick were crouching in the tall grass. Chad said, “I think that Sableye is keeping the fire lit so he can more easily spot intruders, even though it makes it easier for intruders to see his location.”

            Kyla replied, “He did not expect to be followed, he took a hard to follow route back and lost time in the process just to make it harder to locate him.”

            Stephan asked, “So Sableye and a Meowth are next to the fire, and I see another Meowth looking into a tent. I can only assume that that is where they have Delilah prisoner. What is the plan, guys?”

            Chadwick thought for a moment and then said, “We cannot let them threaten Delilah to stop our attack, so we need someone to take out the Meowth guarding her while the others take on Sableye. Luckily, I also know Foresight. I just wanted to have Kyla use it last time, to test her loyalty.”

            **Arceus Damn it, Chad!**

            Kyla quietly face-palmed and then said, “My Foresight should have worn off by now. I will try to surprise attack that lone Meowth and secure Delilah while you two make a frontal attack on Sableye and his bodyguard.”

            **I enjoy having my characters that can do so face-palm. I do it myself somewhat often.**  

            Stephan nodded and turned to Chadwick, saying, “I will mostly provide ranged support for you, while you fight them off up close.” Chad nodded in agreement.

            Kyla began to carefully sneak around the camp, using the tall grass and the fact that the foe she was trying to surprise had his back turned to her to keep herself concealed. She emerged from the grass and crept toward the Meowth. He seemed focused on the tent. As Kyla got closer, she saw that he was keeping a close watch on a cuffed and sleeping Delilah. Kyla made her move, Quick Attacking the surprised Meowth to the ground and then covering his mouth with one of her hands.

            Upon seeing that, Chad used Foresight on Sableye and then had charged out from the grass. Stephan moved in behind Chad and hit the Meowth accompanying Sableye with a Water Gun. Chad Low Kicked Sableye in the chest. With his Ghost Type immunity down, he was weak to Fighting Type moves due to his Dark Type.

            **And even more RPG elements find their way in!**

            The Meowth Kyla had attacked tried to remove her hand from his mouth while successfully hitting her with a Scratch to the stomach. Kyla cried in pain, waking Delilah who rapidly sat up. Delilah was not sure what to do as she saw her friend and her captor fighting.

            Kyla punched the Meowth in the face, but he threw her off and then quickly stood up. Meowth then landed another Scratch on Kyla, weakening her further.

            As Kyla staggered back, Delilah ran up behind her captor and moved her arms up, over his head and then wrapped the chain between her wrists around the Meowth’s arms, binding his arms to his sides. Delilah shouted to Kyla, “Good to see you again, now knock him out!”

            As Meowth struggled, Kyla used a Quick Attack to head-butt the Meowth, rendering him unconscious. Delilah let Meowth fall to the ground and them gave Kyla a high-five.

            **I wonder if it was hard for Delilah to give Kyla a high-five while handcuffed.**

            Kyla then said, “We need to get those cuffs off of you.” Delilah nodded and then the two of them looked over to the main area of the camp.

            As Kyla and Delilah were fighting the Meowth acting as a guard, Sableye’s other Meowth minion had gone to chase after Stephan. As this happened, Sableye hit Chadwick with a Nightshade move. The severely injured Chadwick countered with a Karate Chop on Sableye who staggered back.

            Stephan hit the incoming Meowth with a Mud Slap, which caused him to miss Stephan with his Bite. Then, Stephan finished Meowth with a Water Gun, which forced him to crumple to the ground, unconscious.

            Sableye used Fury Swipes on Chad, who took another hit, as he avoided the other strikes. Chad swung his fist at Sableye with another Karate Chop, but Sableye dodged it.

            As Sableye was preparing another Nightshade to finish Chad off Stephan nailed him with a Water Gun. Sableye missed with his Nightshade and looked to be on the edge of fainting. As Sableye prepared to flee, seeing that Stephan had defeated his bodyguard, he got tapped on the shoulder.

            He turned around to see Kyla, with the still-cuffed Delilah behind her. Kyla smiled as she punched Sableye in the face, right between his eyes, causing him to faint.

            **That is still one of my favorite fight scene endings in the series. It even gets mentioned in the sequel!**

            Delilah walked over to the now fainted Sableye and searched his pack. After a moment of going through it, with difficulty due to her bonds, she found a key, which she used to free herself. Then Delilah locked the cuffs onto Sableye’s wrists.

            Delilah said, “Thank you all for coming to save me, it was humiliating being his planned bargaining chip. I plan to stay with the group next time and not let that happen again any time soon.”

            **Fortunately, Delilah was not scared away from Guild work by her unpleasant experience.**  

            Kyla and Stephan dragged the two Meowth together and Kyla responded to Delilah, putting her hand on her shoulder, “Do not worry about it, we’re friends. Now lets’ get these CAREER CRIMNIALS to prison.” She finished her sentence with a side-glance at Chadwick.

            As they were getting ready to return to Glaceon and get the outlaws to the prison where Mamoswine could sentence them. Chad looked straight into Kyla’s eyes and told her, “Miss Kyla, I owe you an apology.” He extended his hand and Kyla smiled and shook it.

**I should have mentioned this earlier, but I got the idea of having four Guild members to a team from the standard party size in most tabletop RPG games and many video games. Anyway, the team has now completed their first mission.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to put the first six chapters up right after the initial posting. However, posting of new chapters may or may not slow down from here. We will have to see how much time and energy I have.


	7. Aftermath of the First Mission

            After defeating Sableye and rescuing Delilah, the team went over to where they had the Glaceon bound to the tree and retrieved her.  With the Glaceon walking and the unconscious Sableye and two Meowth in tow, the team walked from the plains to the main road and then followed it south to the prison to drop off the outlaws.

            When they arrived with their prisoners, it was the middle of the night. They knocked loudly at the door and found one of the two Sneasel deputies opening it. He seemed surprised to see anyone out so late at night and did not seem to recognize Kyla. He did, however, go to get his older sister who helped bring the outlaws in and bind the two unconscious Meowth with inhibitor cuffs. Akira seemed to recognize Kyla, but did not say anything. Kyla could only assume that Akira was unsure if Kyla had informed her allies of her criminal past. The team informed the deputies of the two tied up Kecleon on the tree and then were allowed to sleep in a series of guest rooms nearby Mamoswine’s office on the first floor of the prison.

            **It is possible that the prison could have also acted as a brief resting place for travelers on their way up or down the road between the outpost and Polumbos Town.**

            The next morning, the group headed south, back to Polumbos Town. As they were leaving, Akira mentioned that one of her younger brothers was on leave in Polumbos and gave Kyla a friendly wink as she and her remaining younger brother left to try and apprehend the Kecleon the team had defeated.

            **Akira was clearly pleased that Kyla had begun to turn her life around.**    

            The team arrived in Polumbos in the evening and then first went to collect their reward of 3,000 Poke each from the mayor’s office. After checking in with Sunflora to tell her of their first success, the team members split up to go have dinner and get some rest. Stephan and Kyla returned to the inn, where Stephan immediately went up to his room to rest, while Kyla ate a quick dinner and then paid Chansey another 10 Poke to ensure her another week in her inn room. Kyla then went up to bed and slept peacefully, knowing that she had completed her first mission as a Guild member.

            **Now that Kyla had more money, she could easily afford a longer stay in her inn room.**

            The next morning, Kyla was heading down to the main floor of the inn after her normal morning ritual. She saw Stephan being served breakfast by Chansey, as well as a few other guests eating. Kyla walked over to Stephan and took a seat at the table where he was sitting. After she ordered breakfast from Chansey, Kyla was about to begin discussing their mission with Stephan, when they both noticed the door opening and two familiar Pokémon entering.

            Chandra and Alina, who Kyla had met after her release, saw Kyla and Stephan at their table and walked over quickly. Alina said, “Hey Stephan, I haven’t talked to you in a while.”

            Stephan smiled and responded, “I also have not seen you in quite a bit. As you can see, we are part of the same Guild now.”

            Chandra then interrupted, “That is actually what we came here to talk about with you two.”

            Kyla cocked her head inquisitively before Chandra continued, “Alina, why don’t you and Stephan get a table and catch up, I need to have a quick chat with Kyla here.” Alina nodded and she then took a slightly worried looking Stephan over to an unoccupied table nearby.

            **There is another example of the head cocking that I explained before.**

            Chandra sat down next to Kyla and then began, “I just came here to warn you about something. Alina came with me so that she could see Stephan again.”

            Kyla nodded and then asked, “What do you have to warn me about?”

            Chandra continued, “As you can imagine, Hans is furious about your success, our team was at the Guild’s local office this morning and Sunflora told us about your team’s recent establishment and first success. Hans went on a rant about how the Guild had lost its standards and insisted that you were a scumbag who must have lied to her teammates. I don’t know what Hans is planning on doing, but he is clearly upset about you having proven him to be incorrect.”

            Kyla replied to Chandra, saying, “He is upset because I won our ‘bet’. He did not expect this to happen and he is enraged that he was wrong, even if he can’t admit it to himself.” After taking a breath Kyla continued, “You know, the final Pokémon that joined my team actually was very suspicious of my morality and I was able to make a deal with him before our mission, he admitted that he was wrong about me and he has not criticized me since we brought the gang of outlaws in together.”

            Chandra looked Kyla over, smiled and then said, “Well, I will keep an eye on Hans for you, I am not sure what he’s planning, but he still seems to have a very serious desire to discredit you.” Kyla and Chandra then shook hands. Soon after that, Chandra collected Alina and the two girls left.

            Stephan and Kyla then ate together and Kyla informed Stephan of what Chandra had told her. Stephan’s response was, “Hans is still a bastard who is bigoted against you! That has not changed. At least Chad seems to have kept his promise to stop discriminating and accept you. He is a mon of his word.”

            **And we see another swear word. I guess I am keeping a tally of them now.**  

            Kyla nodded, saying, “I wonder when we will have another mission, I think we should get the team together tomorrow at the earliest to look for another job.”

            **Unlike in the actual PMD games, teams do not have to do a job every day in this setting.**  

            Stephan agreed and after the duo finished eating, he headed out for a private walk, as he put it. Kyla, was not sure what to do with her day off and as such she decided to take some time to explore the town. She had lunch by herself at the café near Delilah’s house, seeing as though she had enjoyed the food last time. In the afternoon, she walked past the town hall to the church and walked inside. Sabrina waved at her as she was doing some of her usual cleaning. Mother Blissey was apparently out shopping at the moment. Kyla decided to help a very grateful Sabrina clean for a bit. Before she left said a brief “thank you prayer” up to Arceus for her recent successes, both in forming her team and putting herself on the right side of the law by stopping Sableye and his minions.

            After helping Sabrina clean up the church, Kyla came back to the inn. She returned to her room and then decided to lie down on her bed and take a nap.

            Kyla was awoken by a loud series of knocks at the door. She got up from her bed and walked to the door. When she opened the door she saw Delilah, who asked her, “Hey Kyla, I am about to head to the dance hall nearby for the evening. It’s only a bit south down the street and past the Guild office. I was wondering if you would like to come with me?”

            Kyla rubbed her eyes, thought for a moment and responded, “Well… I have nothing else to do tonight. I will at least have dinner with you and then see where things go, ok?”

            **I don’t think that Kyla had ever danced before…**

            Delilah nodded and smiled at Kyla, saying, “Follow me then.”

            Delilah and Kyla walked down the street to a large wooden building with a thatch roof. There was a large open entrance, which the two girls walked through. Inside, the building was brightly lit with a number of candles, torches and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Delilah mentioned offhand that the chandelier was a restored human artifact as Kyla surveyed the room. The massive open room had one section closer to the door where there was effectively a restaurant. A number of tables were clustered around what appeared to be a kitchen. The majority of the room was an open wooden floor with a number of Pokémon of varying species dancing, some alone, some in couples and some in groups. There appeared to be a band of sorts on the other side of the room playing some basic, but catchy, music.

            Delilah and Kyla got a table and ordered their food. As they waited for it to be ready Kyla mentioned to Delilah, “So, I hope that you are not discouraged by what happened last mission.”

            Delilah quickly responded, “It was honestly my fault, I fell for Sableye’s trap. I should have known better than to chase after an experienced outlaw alone. Next time, I will stay with the group and avoid being separated.”

            Kyla nodded and smiled, responding, “I am quite pleased that you are not abandoning the team just because you were captured in action. You did help by immobilizing that Meowth I was fighting after all.”

            Delilah smiled warmly back at Kyla and replied, “You can rest assured that I have no intention of leaving the team at this stage, we still have our careers ahead of us.”

            **My beta reader assured me that he thought this scene was a good way of assuring my readers that Delilah would not be a recurring damsel in distress.**

            Kyla and Delilah ate their dinner after it came and then paid. Delilah then told Kyla, “I am going to go over to the dance floor and have a good time, hopefully find a nice someone to spend some quality time with.”

            Delilah winked at Kyla who just nodded and then responded, “I think I see one of Akira’s younger brothers out there, you might be able to go talk to him. I will just hang out here for the moment, I have got nothing else going on.”

            As Delilah was leaving, she turned to Kyla and told her, “Thank you for coming with me. You are a good friend. If you do not want to dance, then suit yourself.” Delilah headed out to the dance floor and Kyla sat back in her chair and relaxed.

            Kyla watched Delilah dance with a number of other patrons until she was dancing with Akira’s Sneasel brother. Then she heard a voice from behind her saying, slowly and calmly, but with a tint of rage to it, “Hello Kyla.” Kyla got off her chair and whirled around. She saw Hans standing behind her with his short arms folded.

            **I don’t remember how much more it shows up in this story, but I know that I seem to use the trope of a voice coming from out of sight of the protagonist quite a bit.**  

            Hans said, “In case you were wondering, I followed you and the Chimchar here. I waited near the inn for you to leave and then used the crowds as cover.”

            **Apparently, he did not come here to have a good time…**

            Kyla stared at Hans blankly and then replied, “Determined, aren’t you?”

            Hans nodded triumphantly and then asked, “What do you want?”

            Kyla raised an eyebrow and responded, “For one thing, for you to stop bothering me. You were wrong and I was right.”

             Hans fumed and then continued, “What I would like to know is, what your game is! Why have you joined the Guild?”

            Kyla raised an eyebrow again and then replied, “Because you accidentally convinced me to join by telling me that I would never get in. It’s a risky job, but it pays well and I have made some good friends in the process.”

            Hans glared at Kyla, looking her straight in the eyes and said, “You are avoiding the question. You are going to tell me what your plan is, you criminal!”

            Kyla simply nodded no and then told Hans, “I cannot tell you about a plan that I do not have. I, as I might have told you before, am in the Guild to find honest work and to AVOID going back to crime. You can rest assured that I have no other agenda.”

            Hans continued to glare at her and then slowly, but in a tone of voice filled to the brim with anger, said, “If I cannot convince you to admit your plan to me then, let us go outside. We will fight and once I beat your plan out of you, I will be able to prove that you are unworthy of being in the Guild and you will be removed. Or you could save me the trouble and leave by yourself.”

            **This is when Hans crossed the metaphorical line.**

            Kyla was unsure of what to do. She was very sure that Hans was a far superior fighter. However, she was pretty sure that she needed to stay in the building so that Hans would not try to start a fight. She also knew that she was not going to back down and leave the Guild because he had just threatened her.

            Hans asked Kyla, “So, you crook, what will it be? Leave the guild or let me beat a confession out of you.”

            Kyla told Hans, “Or we could just stay in this building where everyone would see us fight.”

            Hans’s rage continued to build as he said back, “Fine, I guess we will have to settle this right here!”

            **Both Hans and Kyla are not fans of backing down.**  

            Realizing that Hans was going to fight her no matter what, Kyla folded her arms, sighed and then said, “Ok then, I will go outside with you, but you could just admit you were wrong.”

            Kyla and Hans walked outside, with Hans following her to make sure she would not try to run. Delilah was too busy dancing to notice what was going on. As Kyla and Hans stood opposite each other in an alleyway next to the building, Kyla hoped that she would at least get a couple of good punches in before Hans would knock her out. As Hans approached her slowly, Kyla shouted at him, “You know that everyone will most likely blame you for this!”

            Hans, just responded, “Not when I make you tell the other Guild members the truth!”

**The truth, sure…**

            Hans’s entire body glowed as he activated his Dragon Rage. He then lunged at Kyla and collided with her.

            Kyla stumbled back as Hans prepared for another attack. She nailed him with a Quick Attack, which seemed to barely leave a mark on him.

            Kyla quickly realized that she did not stand a chance against Hans. He then sliced her with a Scratch, leaving her barley on her feet.

            Kyla swung her fist, but Hans easily took the hit.

            As Kyla teetered Hans asked her, “Give up now? Tell me what you are planning!” Kyla shook her head no and Hans then responded, “Ok then, lights out!”

            **Even though the story makes it clear later, I should indicate that Hans was never intending to kill Kyla. He still knows that that would make him a worse criminal than her.**

            As Hans was about to swing a claw at her face he was grabbed from behind, as a voice said, “I am afraid that I cannot allow you to injure my teammate anymore.” Kyla looked up and her jaw dropped, seeing that it was Chad holding Hans back.

            Hans said, “Whoever you are, you will not stop me!” He then started to glow, charging another Dragon Rage as Kyla ran up and punched him in the face.

            Chad then forced the stunned Hans to the ground and nailed him in the face with a Karate chop. As Hans tried to get back up, Kyla hit him with a Quick Attack. Hans tried to Dragon Rage Chad, who dodged the attack and then dropped Hans with a Low Kick to the stomach.

            **I think that that’s two critical hits in a row!**

            Hand fainted. Kyla looked over at Chad who said, “We should get him to the Guild office and explain what happened.”

            Kyla bewilderedly asked Chad, “How did you find us?”

            Chad responded, “I was walking to the dance hall myself when I heard something going on in this alley. It seems that your differences with Hans turned violent.”

            **You’ve got that right, Chad.**

            Kyla nodded, she still felt faint from her injuries, but she walked over to Chad, who grabbed Hans by the ankle. “He thought I have some sort of a plan and he tried to beat it out of me,” Kyla said.

            Chad nodded and said, “Unlike him, I have come to realize that you are well intentioned. We are teammates now and I don’t want you getting harmed.”

            Kyla simply smiled warmly at Chad, realizing how different he actually was from Hans.

            After dropping Hans off with Sunflora, who said she would alert his team and figure things out in the morning, Kyla and Chad were back outside the dance hall. Kyla said, “I still feel a bit woozy, maybe I should get some rest while you enjoy yourself. Thank you so much for saving me back there.”

            Chad smiled at Kyla and replied, “You could go back and rest. However, if you are feeling up to it, we could enjoy ourselves?”

            **I added in a sentence here for the re-release to make it more in character for Chad. I think that He would make sure Kyla was feeling alright before asking her to dance.**

             Kyla looked very confused and Chad simply laughed, took Kyla’s hand and said, “Miss Kyla, could I have this dance?”

            Kyla smiled and said, “Seeing as though I owe you one and the night is still young, yes.”

            When Chad and Kyla walked inside together they saw that Delilah was still dancing with the Sneasel and they both decided not to bother her. They began dancing. Kyla was somewhat clumsy, both due to her injuries and her lack of experience, but Chadwick did not remark on it. He was clearly quite an experienced dancer.

            **Since Pokémon can rest and walk off their injuries, maybe they can also dance them off as well.**

            By the time Kyla and Chad had had enough, almost all the other patrons had left, including Delilah and the Sneasel. Kyla, who had healed up by this point said to Chad, “I should be getting back to the inn now.”

            **I guess that they can.**  

            Chad smiled at her and then responded, “Before you do that, one question, have you ever been stargazing?”

            Kyla thought for a moment and then said, “Not really, I normally just watch the sun rise in the morning.”

            Chad then took her hand again and told her, “If you trust me, I can take you to this spot just outside of town, not past the farms, it’s great for stargazing.” Kyla agreed, seeing no downside, and the pair walked out of town and to a patch of thick grass just off the road to Riverton.

            Both of them lied down on their backs and looked up at the stars. After a few moments of silence Chad asked Kyla, “I actually do not know much about your past, other than you being a former outlaw. Would you mind telling me more about it?” Seeing as though she had already informed Delilah and Stephan of her past Kyla decided to tell Chadwick her story.

            Kyla told Chadwick everything worth mentioning, from her mother’s disappearance to her release from prison and meeting their other allies.

            Chad sat there in silence for a few minutes and then looked Kyla in the eyes, saying, “You poor girl, I am so sorry that I was so cruel to you before. I just did not know what sort of life you have been forced to lead. I realize I was wrong.”

            **Looks like Chad can at least admit when he was wrong.**

            Kyla smiled and then told Chad, “Well we are friends now, so that won’t be a problem for us anymore.”

            Chad and Kyla spent some more time stargazing and then got up from the grass, Chad told Kyla, “As a gentlemon I feel as though I should walk you back to the inn.”

            **I think my beta reader suggested the term gentlemon to me. I think that it works pretty well.**

            Kyla nodded saying, “I appreciate that, lets get going, but first…” Kyla embraced Chadwick. Chad slowly put his arms around her as well. After a moment Kyla withdrew her arms and blushed, saying, “Sorry about that, I am sort of a hugger.”

            **I do love self-awareness in my characters.**

            Chad responded, “It’s fine, lets’ get back into town.”

            The two of them walked back into Polumbos. Chad escorted Kyla to her room at the inn. After she unlocked the door and stepped inside she said to Chadwick, “Thank you for the rescue, I do appreciate it. Also, the dancing was wonderful, and so was the stargazing.”

            Chad smiled warmly back at Kyla and replied, “I had a great time with you. However, tomorrow we will have to find out what to do about Hans.”

            Kyla sighed deeply and nodded. She then closed and locked the door and drifted off to sleep.

\---

            Chadwick left the inn and walked home after dropping Kyla off. The whole way back he was thinking fondly of her and the time they had spent together that evening.

            **Well, that was a short little Point of View change.**


	8. Dealing with Hans

            The next morning Kyla came downstairs to find her team waiting for her. Chad, Delilah and Stephan were all there. Delilah awkwardly said, “Hey Kyla, I am really sorry that I did not see Hans last night, I would have helped you if I had seen him. On the bright side, I had a fun night with one of Akira’s younger brothers.”

            Stephan then declared, “Chad went to get us early and told us what happened. Hans has gone too far this time.”

            **That much seems to be obvious.**  

            Chad then told Kyla, “Sunflora has called Hans’s team in for a meeting that we are also to attend. We should get moving.”

            As the team left the inn, Kyla asked her allies, “What is this meeting about?”

             Chadwick replied, “It is about what to do with Hans. He assaulted a fellow Guild member unprovoked and now he faces expulsion.”

            Kyla looked surprised and said, “If they expel him because of me, he will hate me even more than he does now, if that is even possible.” Kyla’s teammates laughed awkwardly at that, but then they just kept walking.

            The team quickly reached the Guild’s office. They entered and saw Han’s team standing in a corner. Hans was sitting on a chair next to Sunflora’s desk with his arms folded. Sunflora was behind the desk, and nodded as Kyla and her team entered the office. Hans quickly glared at Kyla and then looked back over at Sunflora.

            Kyla was asked to take a seat next to Hans, as Kyla’s team took the other corner. Sunflora took out what appeared to be a gavel and banged it against a small wooden disk, saying, “This Guild hearing is now in session. Guild member Hans of Team Polumbos has been accused of attacking Guild member Kyla unwarranted. If this can be proven, then Hans will be expelled from the P.A.G. Kyla, your testimony as accuser is necessary now.”

            Kyla sighed and then began, “Hans tracked me to the dance hall last night and demanded that I reveal my ‘plan’ to him. I told him that I had none and he insisted on fighting me. When I was effectively forced to fight him outside, only the timely intervention of my teammate Chadwick allowed me to survive the fight conscious. Hans needs to stop trying to force me out of the guild because of my past!”

            Sunflora then asked Chad, “Is this true, Chadwick?” Chad responded, “All of it ma’am. I was able to intervene and save Kyla from being knocked out by Hans. I am not even sure what he was planning on doing with her once he did so, but thankfully I was able to help my teammate out.”

            Then, Sunflora turned to Hans and said, “So Hans, what do you have to say in your defense?”

            Hans sighed and then said aloud, “I do not regret what I have done, my accusers are correct. However, I am only trying to prevent this organization from being corrupted, through giving entrance to base criminals! The best thing I can say in my defense is that you should value an experienced member like myself over an outlaw. I rest my case.”

            **Hans is pretty arguably this story’s first antagonist. However, I would not call him a full-blown villain.**  

            Sunflora sighed deeply and then said, “Hans, you leave me no choice. The rules are the rules as set by our Guild Master Zoroark. I will have to expel you from the Guild and have your badge removed. I am sorry, but you have brought this on yourself.”

            **Well, it looks like they do have a way to remove badges after all. Keep in mind that it has been years since I first wrote this story. I can’t remember every little detail.**

            Kyla had been thinking, and she had realized during Chad and Hans’s testimony that if she got Hans removed from the Guild he would probably try to murder her, or seek some sort of other revenge. Deciding that there was a better way to end this, Kyla stood up before Sunflora could bang her gavel. She said, “Ma’am, as Hans’s accuser I am willing to drop the charges so he can stay in the Guild. But only if he is willing to leave me alone from now on, that is.”

            **I like to think that this sequence shows Kyla’s intelligence. She knows that Hans would really lose all restraint if she got him removed from the Guild. So, she tries to end their feud in a safe way.**

            Sunflora turned to Hans and asked him, “Is this acceptable to you?”

            Hans thought it over for a moment and responded slowly, “Yes it is acceptable, and I will agree to leave her alone in exchange for keeping my membership.” Hans’s team looked approvingly over at both Hans and Kyla.

            Kyla told her team, “I think we are done here, lets go look for a new job.” Kyla’s teammates seemed quite surprised by her willingness to let Hans stay in the Guild. However, they still left the office with her. Sunflora waved at them as they filed out of the building.

            **I think that before Chadwick showed up, my beta reader thought that Hans would end up with Kyla. As many of you may know, antagonism is often seem as a pretext for shipping. Of course, I would end up going down a similar path in the end with the main romance.**

            When Kyla and her team were outside and making their way to Town Hall Stephan asked Kyla, “Why did you let him stay?”

            Kyla responded by telling Stephan, “Because I thought it was the best chance of proving that I am a good Pokémon to him, and hopefully ending this rivalry between us. Unless he is even more insane then I think he is then he will not keep seeing me as his enemy after this.” Kyla’s teammates nodded, hoping that she was right.

            **Kyla knows what she is doing, as least she hopes so…**

            The four of them soon reached Town Hall and went up to the bulletin board, where they looked for new jobs to take.  

            Over the next two weeks, Kyla and her team completed a series of minor jobs in the area. Most of them consisted of helping to protect local farms from packs of wild Pokémon. They also helped to rescue some civilians who had wandered too far from town. In the process Kyla gained a lot of valuable combat experience and she finally was able to learn the move Force Palm.

            One morning Kyla, who had put a significant deposit down to ensure she would not have to pay for her room again for quite a while, was heading downstairs to have breakfast. She reached the inn’s first floor and discovered that Stephan was not there, which was unusual. Kyla walked up to Chansey and asked her, “Where is Stephan?”

            Chansey replied, “Stephan told me to tell you that there is a meeting of all the Guild members in town at the office. Stephan did not want to be rude by waking you up, but you should head over there soon so you do not miss the meeting.”

            Kyla sighed and said, “I guess that I will be missing breakfast then. Well thank you anyways, Chansey.”

            Chansey smiled brightly at Kyla and gave her some berries, “For the road,” Chansey said, despite the fact that the office was very close to the inn.

            Kyla left the inn and then walked over to the guild office, eating her berries on the way. When she entered the office, she saw the rest of her team had been waiting for her. Also, Sunflora was there, and so was the other team in town. Hans avoided eye contact with Kyla and Kyla did the same.

            **Obviously, there is still a lot of tension between them.**

            Kyla walked over to her teammates and Sunflora said, “Now that everyone is here, the meeting can officially begin.” Sunflora then continued, “The reason that you all have been called here is that we have received a report that up at the outpost on the edge of the mountains, some of the mines, which many of the local civilized Pokémon work in, have been taken over by a united group of wild Pokémon with an unknown leader. Sheriff Mamoswine is getting some Pokémon together to be part of an expedition to the outpost. You all will leave soon to join that expedition, so you all should meet up at the northern exit of this town as soon as possible. Get your toolboxes and any other bags you have packed before meeting up at the northern exit. You are to head for the outpost immediately after meeting up.” Everyone nodded and then Sunflora concluded, “Once you reach the outpost Mamoswine will explain what the plan will be. Move out everybody!”

            The two teams left the office and headed back to the places they were staying. In Kyla’s team, Chad and Delilah, as usual, took care of packing combat relevant items for the toolbox, while Kyla and Stephan packed some food for the trip to the outpost. As Kyla and Stephan were packing food, which they had bought from Chansey, Kyla asked Stephan, “What exactly is the deal with the ‘outpost’ anyways? All I really know about it is that Hans lived there, and you know the issues that we have had with him.”

            Stephan nodded and then explained to Kyla, “The outpost is a colony of Polumbos Town that sits directly below the mountain range north of here. It was set up both as a territorial expansion for the Polumbos-Riverton Alliance, and to facilitate trade with other civilized areas. Also, as Sunflora mentioned, there are mines near the outpost, which are used to mine elemental stones, stone to use as a building material and various metal ores. The issue with the outpost is that it is frequently vulnerable to wild Pokémon and outlaw attacks, as we have seen.”

            Kyla replied, “I see, they must get more exposure to outlaws there than the Pokémon here in Polumbos do.”

            **Hans may not be as alone in his undying hatred of outlaws as he appears to be.  However, that was not as fully explored in this story as it could have been.**

            Stephan nodded yes as they continued packing. The team re-assembled at the inn and then walked to the northern entrance of town. There, they met up with the other team and Sunflora. Sunflora said, “Guild procedures require me to stay in the office to run it. You all will head north up the road to the outpost in your respective teams. Good luck.” Sunflora began to trek back to the Guild office as first Hans’s team began the march north and the Kyla’s team followed, bringing up the rear.

            **All right, now that the Hans arc is over, I have another insight to share here: Long after I had finished and posted this story I had the idea that I could have resolved the Hans-Kyla feud another way. Instead of Hans attacking Kyla, and her making a deal with him to end their feud, I thought that I could have had some crime occur in Polumbos Town and Kyla immediately get the blame for it from Hans. This would force Kyla, with the help of her teammates, to try and prove her innocence. Just when Kyla would be close to being arrested again, or forced to flee the territory, Chadwick would apprehend the real criminal and bring him or her in. The actual culprit would have no other connection to the story. I would not consider it to be in character for Hans to have framed Kyla for a crime he committed, it would be too risky for him and he would not have felt the need. He just would have spearheaded the faction attempting to blame Kyla for the crime. In the end, once Kyla was proven innocent, Hans would have been forced to back down due to embarrassment. I have not developed the idea that much, so do not expect to see anything else done with it in future stories for the time being.**


	9. Battles in the Mines

            Kyla and her teammates were following Hans and his team up the road north to the outpost. They had spent most of the day walking and the sky was getting darker when Chadwick spoke up, “We might have to find a place to camp on the road soon. Tomorrow we should reach the outpost sometime in the afternoon.”

            Everyone nodded in agreement as Kyla decided to ask her allies a question, “Hey everyone, have any of you visited the outpost before? Stephan told me about why it exists, but he did not mention whether or not any of you guys had been there.”

            All of Kyla’s teammates nodded no to her question, and Chad then said, “The outpost is the frontier of the alliance, and is often being attacked by wild Pokémon or outlaw gangs. Sheriff Mamoswine picked the old warehouse as his prison and headquarters because it is decently close to the outpost, and is also within a day’s walk of Polumbos Town.”

            Kyla nodded her acknowledgement as Chad looked at her and continued, “Just to warn you Kyla, similar to, but probably to not as great of an extent, as Hans, residents of the outpost are mistrustful of outlaws. I would not mention that element of your past to anyone there.”

            **Not a bad idea, Chad…**

            Kyla smiled back at Chadwick and told him, “Thank you for the warning, I appreciate it.”

            Chad smiled back at her and said, “We are teammates after all and I just want to keep you safe…as well as make sure we cause no problems while we are there.”

            Kyla nodded while smiling and thought, “Chad has really turned around since the end of our first mission. He has been so nice to me; if it were not for him, Arceus knows what Hans would have done to me. He has been such a gentlemon. I wonder if a guy like him would even consider… no, that seems really unlikely. It would be nice though, very nice.” Kyla let a smile come to her face as her team continued walking north.

            **This “seed planting” was important to indicate that Kyla was interested in Chadwick. That way, hopefully his later interest in her would not seem one-sided.**  

            The four of them camped for the night just south of the prison. They took four shifts keeping watch for enemies, but they were not attacked. The next day, they completed their journey to the outpost.

            The outpost was surrounded by a wood and stone wall with only two gates, one facing the road on the south and one facing the north where the road continued though a mountain pass. The guards, who saw their badges, let the team inside. Once inside, they were all given free accommodations at a local inn, since they were there to help liberate the mines. Delilah and Kyla had to share a room, but were ok with that, since they were in separate beds.

            **Not sure if Stephan and Chadwick shared a room. Chad did not know Stephan was gay at that point, so maybe they did?**

            The next morning, Kyla performed her usual morning ritual and then woke up Delilah. The team met for breakfast and then headed to the town square where Sheriff Mamoswine was organizing a meeting.

            The team arrived at the town square of the outpost, which was considerably smaller than the square in Polumbos Town. There was a town hall, similar in shape to the town hall in Polumbos, but only one story tall.

            Mamoswine was standing out in front of the town hall with Akira and her two younger brothers. Hans, Jacob, Chandra and Alina were also there, as well as around 10 local Pokémon of various species. Kyla, Chad, Delilah and Stephan arrived at the square and stood at the back of the crowd. One of the Sneasel waved to Delilah, who waved back at him.

            **That’s a call back to the two previous chapters, if that was not already obvious.**

            Akira whispered into Mamoswine’s ear, “Boss, I believe that everyone is here, you should begin.”

            Mamoswine nodded and then began his speech, “Welcome, everyone! As you all should know, I am the sheriff of the Alliance Territory and it therefore falls to me to assume leadership when a crisis arises. One of this area’s major mines has been taken over by organized wild Pokémon who have not listed any demands. This endangers the economic life of this outpost and I have assembled myself, my deputies, some locals willing to assist and the members of the local branch of the Pokémon Adventurers Guild, of which my head deputy was formerly a member.” Mamoswine then took a deep breath and continued, “Now as to our plan, we will enter the main shaft as a group and should reach the place where the shaft divides into three sub-shafts with little resistance. Then each Guild team will take a secondary shaft while I lead the majority of the expeditionary force down the main shaft. We will attempt to drive away the wild Pokémon, knocking them out as necessary, and then regroup once we have cleared the shafts. We are not entirely sure of the enemy’s strength, however. So, keep that in mind. We will meet in front of the mine at midday. Are we all clear?” 

            The entire audience responded “Yes Sir!” aloud. And then they began to disperse. As the group was dispersing Mamoswine looked over his volunteers, saw Kyla and raised an eyebrow. He then walked out into the square, with Akira following him. Kyla and her teammates saw Mamoswine approaching and stopped walking away.

            Mamoswine walked up to the team and asked Kyla, “Excuse me miss, I feel as though I remember you from somewhere.” Akira looked like she was considering saying something to her boss, but decided to see where this was going.

            Kyla was unsure of what to say to the imposing sheriff as he stood over her, her teammates waited to see what was going to happen. Mamoswine thought for a moment and then opened his eyes widely and said, “I remember you actually! Kyla wasn’t it? Last time I saw you, it was your release day from my prison. Now, what are you doing here?”

             Chad looked over at Kyla and quietly asked her, “Do you want me to explain this to the sheriff, I sort of know him.”

            Kyla shook her head no to Chad and stepped up. She then told Mamoswine, “Well sir, since my release I have joined the Guild and I am just here on a mission to help get your mines back, I hope there will be no problems, sir.”

            **Of course, she does not want there to be any problems, seeing that he is both much bigger and tougher than her and holds a position of authority.**  

            Akira then chimed in, “You know, Sheriff, she and her team were the ones who brought in Sableye and his crew around two weeks ago.”

            Mamoswine smiled and said, “Well in that case I am happy that you did not return to your criminal past, good to have you all.” He then turned away and began walking back to the town hall. Akira smiled and winked at Kyla, who winked back. She then followed Mamoswine back to the town hall.

            **Potential crisis averted…**

            Kyla breathed a sigh of relief as Mamoswine and Akira walked away. Chad put his arm on her shoulder, saying, “The sheriff is a good guy. I was very sure that he would understand.”

            Kyla looked over at Chad and responded, “You are right, he seems to approve. Now, lets’ get ready for the expedition.”

            A few hours later the entire expeditionary force, consisting of twenty-two Pokémon had met at the gaping entrance to the main mine. Kyla’s team was on the left flank, Hans’s team was on the right flank, Mamoswine was in the lead of the group, Akira and her younger brothers were behind him and behind them was the main group of Pokémon. The force marched deep into the mine, which was lit with a number of glowing crystals that dotted the walls and ceiling of the shaft. Miners had placed them strategically after the crystals had been dug up so as to light the shaft. Eventually the force reached a three-way split in the shaft. Mamoswine led his team forward down the large main shaft while Hans’s team went down the right shaft and Kyla’s team went down the left shaft.

            **For some reason, this reminded me of how they always split up on Scooby Doo.**

            Kyla and her team were now on their own. Moments after they broke off from the main group, Chad asked his team, “Ok, we all know that our plan is to get as far as we can, while eliminating or scaring off wild Pokémon. We will also try to find the root cause of this attack as well, even though I assume that it will be in the main shaft. Then, we will try to re-group with Mamoswine’s group and the other Guild team whenever possible, after we have cleared as much of the shaft as we can. Hopefully we will reach the bottom today.”

            Chad’s team members nodded and they continued on their way. Eventually they reached an area where the shaft opened up. There, they saw a trio of Aron blocking their path.

            The three Aron took their positions, one blocking the way forward and the other two starting to circle around to the team’s flanks.

            Chad stepped forward as asked the lead Aron, “What do all of you want?”

            The Aron seemed to ponder the question for a moment and then replied, “For you to leave…ATTACK!”

            Kyla remembered that many wild Pokémon were not particularly smart, as the two other Aron advanced on the team’s flanks.

            **If they were smarter, than presumably they would have become civilized.**

            Kyla thought, “I am seriously glad I learned Force Palm,” as she readied herself for combat.

            One of the Aron lunged toward Kyla and nailed her with a Metal Claw. Kyla reeled back but then grinned as energy formed on her open palm. She then lunged forward and struck the Aron with a Force Palm. The Aron looked severely injured and staggered backwards. 

              **It’s Double-Super-Effective, as I like to say.**

            On the other side of the cave Stephan stepped in front of Delilah and then nailed the charging Aron with a Water Gun. Delilah followed up by firing off an Ember, which further weakened the Aron. The foe then launched a Mud Slap past Stephan directly into Delilah’s eyes. Delilah scrambled to remove the Mud as the third Aron and Chadwick rushed each other.

            The Aron saw Chadwick charging him and then stopped to launch a Mud Slap at Chadwick, who got hit by the attack, but kept charging. Chad hit the Aron in the face with a Karate Chop leveling his foe in one hit.

            **One-shot, one K.O…**

            The Aron Kyla was fighting seemed determined as he kept coming at her with his front claws. Kyla dodged the claw this time and responded with another Force Palm. This time the Aron fainted from the attack. Kyla then turned to her allies and saw Stephan squaring off against the final Aron. As she rushed over, the Aron hacked at Stephan with a Metal Claw, injuring him. Then, Delilah managed to scrape the mud off of her eyes and fired another Ember onto the enemy. As Chad and Kyla rushed back over to help him, Stephan countered his attacker with his own Mud Slap, bringing the Aron down.

            Chad looked over his team after they had won the battle and declared, “Well guys, we took care of them! Now, we should keep moving on. Keep your eyes open, everyone.”

            The team continued deep into the mines, where they defeated a couple of patrols consisting of small groups of Rhyhorn. Eventually, they reached what looked like the bottom of the shaft. They noticed what looked like a hole in the ground, that was clearly not part of the original mine, at the very end of the shaft. 

            A pair of Magnemite floated up from the hole. They took positions flanking it as the earth began to shake. The team gasped as they saw an Onix crawl out of the hole. The Onix took his position between the two Magnemite and said, in a loud rumbling voice, “I see that someone did go down this side tunnel.”

            The team braced themselves for a fight as the Onix continued, “I am afraid that these mines are my kingdom now! Unless you want to end up as my food you will retreat… IMMEDIATLEY!”

            **As the Podédex entries essentially state multiple times, wild Pokémon do try to eat other Pokémon. I think that my stories make this pretty clear. The fact that I treat all Pokémon as sentient does make it a bit creepy, though.**  

            Kyla asked, “You are the one in charge of this whole thing, right?”

            The Onix calmly replied, “Why, yes I am. It would be too obvious if I were in the main shaft, where the brunt of your assault is focused. Now that your small group has come here I will eliminate and consume you all before any more reinforcements can arrive.”

            As Kyla could not help but gulp, Chad stepped forward. He said, “These mines are too important for the livelihoods of the outposts’ Pokémon for us to let you take control of them. If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get!”

            Delilah shouted, “I will take the two Magnemite, you guys focus on the leader!”

            Stephan then shouted, “Chad, Kyla, you will need me, my Water Gun should be able to take this guy down!”

            **That’s more of what some may call meta-gaming.**

            Delilah rushed at one of the Magnemite as her allies charged the Onix. Onix shouted to his minions, “Take down that Mudkip, I will handle the others!” Onix had clearly realized that Stephan was indeed the greatest threat to him in the group.

            Both Magnemite turned to Stephan, as he followed Chad and Kyla and proceeded to blast him with their Thunder Shock attacks. Stephan got hit with both attacks and was close to passing out from injury.

            **Those Electric attacks will not hurt him forever, though.**

            Delilah launched an Ember at one of the Magnemite, who would have fainted, but resisted the attack thanks to its Sturdy ability.

            **It seems like the earliest chapters of this story mention abilities more than my later work does.**  

            Onix then saw Chad getting close enough to hit him with a Low Kick and blasted him with Dragon Breath. Chad was paralyzed by the attack and he froze in place.

            Kyla then saw Onix advance on the helpless Chad and she was able to get in close enough to hit Onix with her force Palm. However, the attack, despite being Super-Effective, only weakened him slightly.

            Stephan then stood behind Kyla and hit Onix with a Water Gun. Onix was a massive target and was unable to evade the shot. However, despite the severe injury he was still standing. 

            **As much as a snake can stand in the first place…**

            Onix declared, with a sadistic grin on his face, “Your leader is down for the moment and I still stand, soon you will all be in my stomach!”

            Kyla glared back her towering foe as Delilah took a Thunder Shock from the injured Magnemite and then downed it with a Scratch. The other Magnemite blasted Stephan with a Thunder Shock, knocking him out.

            Stephan stammered, “I’m sorry, Kyla.” as he fainted and slumped to the ground.

            **My beta reader really liked that line. It shows how attached to Kyla Stephan has become that he only apologized to her.**

            Kyla was distracted by Stephan’s fainting and considered getting the toolbox from Chadwick, when she saw Onix lobbing a rock at her using Rock Throw. Kyla tried, in vain, to block with her arms, but she took the hit.

            Kyla then screamed at Onix as she charged him with a Force Palm, shouting, “I refuse to lose here, I still have a lot of living to do!” Kyla nailed Onix with her Force Palm. He now seemed substantially injured.

            Delilah resisted another Thunder Shock and then hit her attacker with an Ember. The Magnemite was still conscious, however.

            Onix tried to hit Kyla with Dragon Breath, but she back flipped up and dodged the move.

            Onix was starting to get angry with her, shouting, “Why won’t you go down!”

            At that point Chad recovered from Paralysis and rushed over to Stephan, rapidly feeding him a Reviver Seed. Stephan jumped up and then was immediately hit by another Thunder Shock from the remaining Magnemite. However, he shrugged off the attack and blasted Onix with a Water Gun.

            Onix shook with pain as Kyla ran up to him and hit him in the face with a final Force Palm, knocking him out. Kyla stood over her fallen foe and triumphantly said, “You are going hungry tonight, ‘king.’”

            The remaining Magnemite tried to flee, but Delilah finished it off with a final Ember attack. Kyla folded her arms, turned around to face her allies and smiled, saying, “We did it everyone! Now, we just need to regroup with our allies and tell them what we have found.”

            Chad nodded in agreement and then said, “Before we do that, Kyla, we should…” At that point both Delilah and Stephan began to glow brightly. Delilah evolved from Chimchar to Monferno and Stephan evolved from Mudkip to Marshtomp.

            **I never planned to make evolution place specific in my setting.**

            Stephan seemed very happy about his evolution, shouting, “I finally have arms!” Delilah also seemed happy to have evolved but was not as expressive about it.

            **I thought that the line about arms was both reasonable for Stephan to have said and funny at the same time.**  

            Chad mentioned, “Despite being the most experienced one here, it will take me a while to become a Machoke. Anyway, lets’ find our allies before these enemies wake up and can escape. 

            Kyla and her team headed back to the crossroads in the mine where they met up with the other P.A.G. team from Polumbos Town. Kyla was secretly happy to see that Hans was the only member of his team who had not also evolved. Alina was now a Braixen, Jacob was now an Ivysaur, and Chandra was now a Croconaw. The eight of them soon located Mamoswine and his force. Then, the three groups confirmed that all of the enemies in the mines had been knocked out.

            Everyone else was very surprised that Kyla’s team had found the mastermind behind the assault on the mines and they all journeyed back to where the battle had taken place.

            The two Guild teams were allowed to return to the surface while Mamsowine and his allies said they would have a “little talk” with Onix. All eight of them returned to the inn where they rested the night without even eating dinner, due to how exhausted they were.

            The next day, both teams met with Mamoswine and his deputies in the outpost square. Mamoswine told the teams, “You have all done excellently. All of you will receive rewards of 5,000 Poke each.” He then looked over at Kyla and told her, “I must admit, that based on the reports of the battle you were quite brave, make sure to keep up the good work.”

            Kyla smiled, feeling very pleased with herself, and then asked Mamoswine, “What happened to the wild Pokémon and their leader?”

            Mamoswine responded, “Now that you have asked, I should tell you that we gathered Onix and his minions and told them that we would let them leave in peace, but that we would not allow any of them back into the mine, unless they wanted to get actual jobs. We were also clear that no mercy would be shown if they launch another attack. Admittedly, a few of Onix’s minions were willing to try working as miners. However, most of them, including Onix, just retreated deeper underground.”

            **That Onix never appears again. This whole arc was mainly designed to give Kyla another chance to shine in action and to show what sorts of things the Guild teams would be up to.**

            Kyla replied, “Understood, Sherriff.” The two teams were then given their money and allowed to return to Polumbos Town.

            The next afternoon Kyla and her allies got into town, Hans and his team had already made it back. Delilah headed home and so did Chad. Stephan and Kyla returned to the inn where Chansey greeted them. “Nice to see you two again,” Chansey said. She then continued, “Stephan, I see you have experienced an evolution.”

            Stephan nodded and said, “Nice of you to notice Chansey. I will now head up to my room and get some sleep for the night.” Stephan went up to his room, true to his word.

            Then Kyla said to Chansey, “I will turn in as well. It is early, but we have been walking for over a day.” Chansey smiled and turned away from Kyla while washing a glass.

            **It seems like Chansey does that pretty frequently.**

            Kyla was relaxing in her room as evening began to fall, when she heard a knock at her door. She got up and opened the door. She saw Chadwick standing in the door, “Hello Kyla, are you available?” he asked.

            **Chad and Kyla, once rivals, now friends and about to get a relationship upgrade. I will say that this story does sort of have an issue with only handling one sub-plot at once. I lined up my planned story arcs and at let them happen one at a time. In the sequel, I seemed to do a better job with having multiple things going on in one section of the story.**


	10. A Night Out

            Chadwick was standing in the doorway to Kyla’s room. He had just asked her if she was available. Kyla responded, “Yes, I am available. Why do you ask?”

            Chad smiled at her and answered her question: “I was thinking that, since you have nothing else to do tonight, that I could take you out for dinner and dancing. I know a place close to the town hall that is the fanciest in town. ‘Chateau Polumbos,’ they call it.”

            **Yeah, Chateau Polumbos is kind of a generic sounding name for a restaurant.**

            Kyla raised an eyebrow and asked him, “Why would you do that?”

            Chad calmly replied, “Because I had fun last time I was out with you. And, to thank you for covering me when that Onix had paralyzed me.” 

            Kyla nodded her understanding and then said, “Let me grab my key and some money and we will head out.”

            As she turned to head back into her room Chad put his arm on her shoulder gently and told her, calmly, “Just grab your key, I will pay for everything. It is what a gentlemon does.” Kyla gave him an odd look, but then nodded. She went to grab her key and then the two of them left.

            **I think one of my later stories in this series explains that the male paying for the meal is a human tradition that somehow survived into the early Pokémon societies.**  

            They arrived in a red painted building on the eastern edge of the central square of Polumbos Town. The interior of the building was split between a small restaurant and a dance floor. To Kyla, it looked like a smaller but more heavily decorated version of the main dance hall in the southern part of town. The duo went over to a table close to the dance floor.             Chadwick pulled out a chair for Kyla, who hesitated, but then sat down. Then Chad took a seat on the opposite chair.

            As he sat down, Chad asked Kyla, “Could you answer a question that I have? It’s not about you personally.”

            Kyla nodded, saying, “Sure, you can ask me a question. However, if it’s not about me, I am not sure if I can answer it.”

            Chad then asked Kyla, “What exactly is Stephan’s story? I know Delilah’s story, because my parents and her parents know each other as acquaintances. However, Stephan is a newcomer in this town and I am curious about him. You seem to have befriended him quickly, and I am curious about what you may know.”

            **Chad is right about how quickly Stephan and Kyla became friends. I still maintain that both of them were alone and looking for friendship at the time and that’s why they bonded so quickly.**  

            Kyla thought for a moment and then told Chad, “Stephan was kicked out of his home down in Riverton by his family. He moved up here and has been saying at the inn for the moment.”

            “Why was he kicked out?” Chad asked Kyla, who quickly replied, “I do not know if he would be okay with me telling you why. I am really sorry.”

            Chad almost immediately guessed, “He is gay, isn’t he?” Kyla just stared back at Chad for a moment and then asked him, “How did you guess that one?”

            Chad calmly replied, “Well, Kyla why else would he have been kicked out? And you would feel uncomfortable with telling me the reason. From what I know of Stephan I think that he would have not done anything to deserve being kicked out of his home. So, I could only guess that his family disowned him for that reason. To conclude, judging from your reaction, I believe I was correct in my educated guess. I can say, also, that it was noble of you to not ‘out’ him to me.”

            **When I worked on this scene, I made especially sure that Kyla would not Out Stephan without his direct consent. I guess that Chad calling Kyla’s decision to not out Stephan noble was self-congratulation.**   

            Kyla was able to relax and then say to Chad, “Well, you know now. I must admit that I am impressed you were able to guess that.”

            Chad interjected, “I would like to change the topic, but rest assured that I will not treat Stephan any differently because of this revelation.”

            Kyla nodded and then asked Chad, “Ok, what do you want to change the topic to?”

            Chad’s eyes took on a serious appearance as he looked directly into Kyla’s eyes. He then began, “I think I mentioned this before, but I want to apologize again for the cruel way in which I treated you before the successful completion of our first mission. You have to understand that my previous interactions with you were very limited and I had no understanding of your circumstances. Also, I should add that I felt that Delilah and Stephan were being naïve about allowing you in their team and that I was protecting them from a possible betrayal. Now I know that your intentions about becoming a Guild member were sincere, and that you have left your unfortunate past behind.”

            Kyla took a moment to take all that Chadwick had said in, and then replied, “I think that at this point we can put that unpleasantness behind us. I know that you, unlike Hans, were smart and sensible enough to stop bullying me when you realized that I was not a deceiver. So, lets’ not worry about the past anymore.”

            **Kyla is willing to forgive and forget, as long as she stops getting persecuted for her past. I wonder if she and Hans ever developed anything beyond a basic mutual understanding?**

            Chad appeared to breath a heavy sigh of relief, as their waiter appeared. After ordering their food, Kyla decided to ask Chad a question, “Since your brother is his assistant, I was wondering if you could tell me anything about Mayor Armaldo? I have heard that he has run this town for quite some time.”

            Chad responded, “Armaldo is the mayor and founder of this town. He has had quite a few assistants; it is not a job that is held for life by any means. He strategically set this town up around the old human church and helped establish the various farms in the area. Then, the town became a key agricultural site and a rest stop for trade that comes through Riverton and heads up to the mountains and on to the big city of Megapolis from there or, of course, trade that goes the other way.”

            Chad took a deep breath and then continued, “He hired Mamoswine, who had a long and successful history as a bounty hunter, to be the sheriff, after he made an alliance with Riverton, and began establishing the outpost. Akira is not the first head deputy Mamoswine has had. If Mayor Armaldo has any flaw, then I would say that it is his unwillingness to release his power. He has been mayor of this town since its creation, and he has only promised elections to be held upon his death or retirement, and his retiring seems unlikely. As a final note, he is so well liked and respected here that it does seem unlikely that he would be unseated by force. Also, the Sheriff answers primarily to him, so there is that.”

            **Mayor Armaldo… benevolent dictator?**

            Kyla took a moment to mentally digest all the information Chad had given her and then replied, “Well that is interesting, thank you for all of that.” She then took a long pause and this time looked directly into Chad’s eyes, saying, “Chad, I still wonder, why you seem so interested in spending time with me. I hope it is not all trying to make up for your earlier behavior, because all is forgiven with regard to that.”

            As soon as Kyla finished, Chad replied, “As to why I have been trying to spend time with you… I should remind you that this is the first time that I have directly planned to be with you for the evening. Last time was not my original plan, but it was how things worked out.”

            **Well, that is all true…**

            He then thought for a moment and continued, “Also I quite enjoy your company now that I know what sort of Pokémon you really are. You are very brave and intelligent. Your loyalty to your friends is also commendable and you, despite your rough past, do your best to be pleasant to those who do not mistreat you. While I know that you were afraid of harsher retaliation, the way you allowed Hans to stay a Guild member after his assault on you was very magnanimous.”

            **Well, Chadwick certainly knows how to flatter somebody…**

            Kyla could not help but blush after hearing all of Chadwick’s complements. She then responded, “Well, I also enjoy your company. I have to admit that your willingness to help Delilah and Stephan, back when you believed I was a potential traitor, was actually very brave.”

            As Kyla finished, the duo received their food and began to eat. After finishing eating, Chad asked Kyla to dance with him once again.

               As the two of them got out onto the relatively empty dance floor, Chad told Kyla, “I know I have asked you at least one serious question tonight, but I have another one.”

            As the pair began to slow dance Kyla asked Chad, “Ok then, what is your question this time?” She laughed a bit as she finished her question in order to assure him that she was not bothered.

            Chad then continued, “When you told me a brief version of your life’s story on our previous night out you mentioned your mother and her disappearance. However, you never mentioned your father. Why is that?”

            Kyla responded, “I think that is a reasonable question. The truth is, that my mom never actually wanted to talk about my dad. Whenever I would bring the topic up, she would divert the conversation or simply insist that I stop. She seemed very angry with my father, whoever he was. She never mentioned his species or, if applicable, name. I also do not know if I have any siblings.”

            **I once had the idea for Kyla to have a brother or half-brother, who would turn out to be a villain. I even considered the idea of him showing up in the sequel, as opposed to this story. However, that idea never left the early development stage. He did not even get a final name.**

            Chad nodded, responding, “Well, I am really sorry that you do not who your father is. Also, I must ask you, why didn’t your mother take you to live in a civilized area? Why were you always out in a shack in the wilds when Polumbos was so nearby?”

            **That is a good question, actually…**

            Kyla replied, “I am not sure about that, I just knew that my mother would, on occasion, go to the outpost for supplies, and she insisted that both of us stay away from civilization. She seemed very distrustful of civilized Pokémon. I first experienced real socializing when I was in the gang, run by Monferno, after my mother’s disappearance. I honestly still wish I knew why my mother was such a recluse.”

            **For some reason, Kyla does not mention her mother’s name, Marina, until later in the story. Maybe I had not figured out her name yet by then?**

            Chad gave Kyla the most sympathetic look that he could muster and said, “I hope that one day you find the answers to those questions.”

            **Spoiler Alert… she will.**

            Kyla smiled warmly back at him and replied, “Thank you for the support. However, for the most part, I want to focus on my future, not my past.”

            Chad nodded, understanding Kyla’s sentiments, as the pair continued to dance. They spent the next few hours dancing together, as it got darker outside. By the time they left the restaurant, it was quite late.

            As they left the building, Chadwick suggested to Kyla, “Do you have any interest in going to that spot just out of town to stargaze for a bit?”

            Kyla replied, “That sounds just fine to me, I can afford to sleep in tomorrow morning.”

            The two of them took a long walk down through Polumbos and left town through the southern exit. The spot that Chad had previously taken Kyla to for stargazing was open as usual and both of them lay down on their backs and looked up at the stars.

            Chad told Kyla, “You know, I found this spot with my brother Jonathan, the mayors assistant, when I was a kid. He did not seem that interested in a small but comfortable patch of grass, but I was. I have been here many times at night.”

            Kyla responded, “Well, this is the second time you brought me here, have you been here with anyone else besides me and your brother?”

            Chad started to look awkward, he sighed deeply and told Kyla, “I have been here with a few girls before, if you must know.”

            **Chad probably wishes that Kyla had not asked him that question…**

            Kyla turned to look over at Chad and asked, “Why was that?” although she thought she had a pretty good idea. 

            Chad continued to have an awkward look on his face, as he said, “I would take girls out here on dates, and then… well… things would frequently happen… intimate things.”

            Kyla could not help but blush, and her face took on an awkward look as well, as she asked him, “How many girls did you take out here to do… intimate things?”

            Chad’s face took on a more serious, but not angry, look, as he replied, “Not a massive number. I want you to understand that I was younger and, by far, less disciplined than I am now. I know what you might be thinking, but I am not interested I those fleeting moments of intimacy anymore. I just felt that you ought to know what I have done here so that part of my past does not come out later in an even more embarrassing way.”

            **Getting things off of one’s chest can frequently be a good idea.**

            Kyla took a moment to think and then responded, “Now that that is all out in the open, one question remains. Why did you take me out here…twice?”

            Chad turned over to look Kyla in the eyes, he took a deep breath and said, “Kyla… you are not like those other girls. You are brave, smart, focused, tolerant, determined and graceful, not to mention very pretty. Those girls were just quick flings; I got tired of that quickly. You are someone much deeper than them, and I really enjoy your company, compared to any other girl I have spent quality time with.”

            **As I said before, he is a great flatterer.**

            Kyla was not sure what to say to Chadwick as he took another deep breath and then finished his statement, saying, “Kyla… I think I’m falling in love with you.”

            **Well, he just got that very big thing off of his chest.**

            Everything made sense to Kyla at that moment: Chad had not just apologized when he realized the sort of Pokémon she was. He had developed feelings for her. Either way, there was something she had to know. Kyla calmly asked Chadwick, “When did you start feeling this way?”

            Kyla’s question had caught Chad off guard; he looked to have been expecting either a straight rejection or her confessing to reciprocate his romantic feelings. However, he felt that he had to answer her question, and so he did, “I started to develop romantic feelings for you after the conclusion of our team’s first mission. Your genuine concern for Delilah after she was captured and your bravery in going in to rescue her forced me to admit to myself that I was wrong. After that my feelings for you started to develop. I tried to resist at first, but later, when I saw Hans assaulting you, I knew I had to do something. After our evening together, I realized that a romantic relationship with you was something that I really wanted. Then, after out latest major mission, I made the decision to ask you out and see what would happen. And that brings us to where we are now.”

            Kyla tried to hide her blushing after Chadwick finished giving her his explanation. She knew that she would have to respond and she did not want to take too long to do so.

            Chad said nothing in response to Kyla’s silence, waiting for her to say something. He thought, “Why isn’t she getting to the point? Is she unsure of her feelings? I have never felt this nervous in my life. This is, in a way, worse than the last battle we had.”

            **Drat, I did something weird with the point of view, sorry about that.**  

            Kyla decided that it was time for her own confession. She looked Chad, who noticed that she was about to continue, in the eyes and said, “I must admit, when I was wondering if you wanted to be with me, I thought that being with you would be nice, that it would be something that I would want. I have never had a romantic partner before… I think it would be great to have someone I could trust and spend time with on a more intimate level than even a close friend. So, to summarize, I am more than willing to give US a try and see where it all goes.”

            Chad breathed a massive sigh of relief and then said, “Well, that was not as emotional as I expected it to be. Still, I see that you reciprocate my emotions, and that is exactly what I was hoping for.”

            Kyla crawled over to Chad, who was lying on his side, facing her. Then, she said, now inches from his face, “If we are going to give us a chance, then I think we should start with this…”

            Kyla closed her eyes and leaned towards Chad, puckering her lips. Chad also leaned in and puckered his lips. Their lips gently met and Chad and Kyla shared a long, gentle, but passionate kiss. After the kiss, Kyla, without saying a word, lay down in the grass directly next to Chad. The two of them each put one arm around the other and the new couple spent the rest of the evening silently stargazing.

            **I will admit that I might have started the main romance subplot of this story a bit too early. I tried to not repeat the mistake with my later installments in the same series. I think it was my mentality of one arc at a time that caused the romance to start so quickly.**


	11. A Trip to Riverton

            Kyla had slept in far later than usual, owing to the fact that, by the time Chad had gotten her back to her inn room, it had been around midnight. The couple had spent quite some time stargazing that evening. Then, they finally walked back to town and he dropped her off at the inn. The two had decided to tell their teammates of their new “relationship upgrade” in the morning, and had ended the night with another gentle kiss. Kyla had slept well that night. It was a comforting feeling that she had not felt for a while. She had not felt loved by anyone since her mother’s disappearance.

            **I know that it is a different kind of love, parental versus romantic, but I still think that was a sweet line.**

            When Kyla got out of her bed, she noticed that the sun was already up. Standing up, she walked over to the window and looked outside. Her annoyance that she missed the sunrise was, for once, outmatched by her happiness over her new relationship.

            As Kyla looked out onto the town, she heard a knock at her door. She then walked over and opened it, seeing Stephan standing there.

            Stephan said, “Good morning Kyla. Why have you not come downstairs for breakfast yet?”

            Kyla smiled and responded, “I was just about to come down, I actually have something I want to talk to you about.”

            Stephan nodded and replied, “Well… I actually have something I want to talk to you about as well. Fortunately for you, I have not had breakfast yet, either.”

            **Stephan must see Kyla as his breakfast buddy. He normally does not have breakfast without her.**

            The two of them walked downstairs and sat down at a table on the inn’s first floor. They were the only two Pokémon other than Chansey who were there. Stephan mentioned, “Most everyone else has already had breakfast.”

            Kyla and Stephan ordered breakfast from Chansey. Then Stephan asked Kyla, “Is it okay if I tell you my thing first?” Kyla nodded yes and then Stephan began… “I don’t think that you know this, but many of the nights, when we have been in Polumbos, I go to a place on the southern border of town. It is a small, out of the way bar, all the guests and the bartender there are like me. I go there to find Pokémon like me.”

            **Yeah… I came up with the idea of a Pokémon gay bar. Not sure why I had Stephan dance around it a bit, since Kyla is already fully aware of who he is.**

            As Stephan took a pause, Kyla asked him, “Not to be rude, but where are you going with this? I assume you are telling me this for a reason.”

            **Despite how close they are, Kyla might have seen this as entering TMI territory.**

            Stephan smiled faintly at Kyla and then continued, “When I was there last night I was dancing with a Grovyle who told me he was disowned by his family, like I was, but was later able to confront them and tell them that they had not ruined his life. They did not take him back, but he felt as though he had closure on his past. I want us to go to Riverton, whether or not we have a mission there. That way I can confront my parents, especially my mother, and make it clear that their rejection has not destroyed me.”

            This surprised Kyla quite a bit. It took her quite some time to respond to her friend. When she finally opened up her mouth she said, “That is fine with me, Stephan. I will go with you and I know I can convince Chadwick. But, I am not sure about Delilah.”

            Stephan cocked his head and asked Kyla, “Why do you say you could convince Chadwick? He used to distrust you, until he saved you from Hans at least.”

            **Here it comes…**

            Kyla, with no sign of stress or hesitation, replied, “Funny enough, Chadwick confessed his romantic feelings for me last night. We spent some time together, nothing ‘dirty’ of course, and then he took me back to the inn at around midnight where I went to sleep.”

            When the look of pure shock left Stephan’s face, he asked, “What was your response to his confession?”

            Kyla slowly replied, “I told him that I was willing to give a relationship with him a try.”

            Stephan smiled warmly, saying, “I really, sincerely, hope that you and Chadwick end up happy together. Also, I should mention again that I am glad to have you as a friend. We should go find Chad and Delilah now.”

            **Stephan seems able to recover from surprises really quickly.**   

            Kyla and Stephan ate breakfast, and then stepped out of the inn and into the street to find Delilah and Chad waiting for them.

            Delilah smiled over at Kyla and Stephan and remarked, “Chad told me about what happened last night. I am really happy for you guys!”   

            Stephan quickly said to Chad and Delilah, “Kyla told me about what occurred last night. And I explained to her that I want us to travel to Riverton, there is some unfinished business I would like to deal with there.”

            Chadwick said, “In that case, why don’t we head down there, see if they need any jobs done and let Stephan take care of his ‘business’ as well. If we don’t end up taking on any missions, it could be like a beach vacation for us.”

            Delilah thought for a moment and then said, “I don’t much like water. However, if you all want to head down there, I can go with you. It will be nice to see a new place anyways.”

            Kyla nodded her agreement and then Chad said, “Well folks, let’s pack our things and head out for Riverton as soon as possible, we should try to be out of the south exit by noon.”

            **Chad always seemed to be the de-facto leader of the team. I always viewed him as higher in level than the other three anyway.**

            The whole team agreed to Chad’s plan and they all began preparations to move out. Just before noon, the team departed from Polumbos and began the trek to Riverton on the main road.

            Chad and Kyla were in front while Stephan and Delilah were in back as they marched south. Not too long after departure Chad asked Stephan, “Not to be too inquisitive, but what is this business in Riverton that you need to deal with?” 

            Stephan looked over at Chad and began, “Well Chad I am actually gay and…”

            Kyla looked slightly awkward as Chad interrupted Stephan saying, “To be honest, I kind of guessed that last night when I was with Kyla. She didn’t ‘out’ you to me, I promise you that.”

            **Of course, Chad both wanted to tell the truth and not mess with Kyla and Stephan’s close friendship.**

            Stephan smiled at Kyla and then continued, “My parents, mainly my mother, disowned me for my orientation and I want to confront them about it. I do not expect them to apologize, but I want them to know that they did not break me emotionally and that I have a full life without them now.”

            Delilah chimed in, “I think you have the right to do that, parental disownment is serious. I don’t think that, in your case, it was warranted.”

            **I think that Delilah just made a few obvious statements/understatements.**

            Chad then added, “She is right, you should confront them. I think that me and Delilah must count ourselves as lucky to both have two loving parents.”

            **I must have written the team in this story as having two members from stable family backgrounds and two members not from stable family backgrounds out of some idea of balance.**

            Kyla awkwardly mentioned, “Well… at this point you three are like my family.”

            She then took Chad’s hand and smiled at him saying, “You, of course, in a different way than the others.” Chad just smiled warmly back at her as they continued to walk hand in hand.

            **In retrospect, that line was a bit to “sugary.” One friend of mine described it as “Twee.”**

            The team reached Riverton after night had fallen, the distance from Polumbos to Riverton being much shorter than the distance between Polumbos and the outpost. A trip from Polumbos to Riverton could be done in a day by foot. The team managed to get individual rooms at the town’s inn and they all slept the night. The next morning, Kyla was happy to be up in time to watch the sunrise. She noted to herself that she should introduce her new boyfriend to the ritual assuming they shared a room in the future.

             Kyla then headed downstairs to find her teammates sitting at a table, waiting for her. She sat down at the one empty chair. The team ordered their food and then Stephan said, “I have no intention of wasting time, I intend to confront my parents today. I do not want to keep you all waiting here for too long.”

            Chad looked to Stephan and then said, “The question is… do you want us to go with you or not? We can also go and look for a job to do in this area. Or, of course, we could go relax on the beach as well.” Chad looked over at Kyla as he finished his statement.

            **I guess he thinks that spending time with Kyla on the beach will be fun. It’s not like she would be wearing any less clothes there than normal…since Pokémon do not normally wear any clothes.**

            Stephan thought for a moment and then replied to Chadwick and the others, “I want to go in there myself and confront them alone. This is a personal thing for me. I need them to know how I feel and my parents will be even more disgusted with me if I show ‘cowardice’ by bringing in support from you all.”

            He then thought for a moment and then added, “Maybe you all should wait outside in case things turn uglier then I expect.”

            Everyone else at the table nodded in agreement and then Chad added, “I still want to go to the beach later, regardless of what happens.”

            Delilah then interjected, “I do not know if the beach will be as good for me as for you three.”

            **That might have been a bit of repetition on my part.**

            She then seemed to ponder something for a moment and then turned to Kyla and asked, “There is something that I have been wondering about you for quite a while… you were a criminal who had spent a lot of time alone in a hostile environment after your mother disappeared, you then spent time in prison. Why are you still so pleasant to associate with most of the time when your past has been so, well, unpleasant?”

            **That is a reasonable question, in my opinion…**

            Kyla looked at bit taken aback, but then realized that Delilah had a point. She had a response to her friend’s question. Kyla took a second to ready her response and then began, “I totally understand why you would ask that, and it’s a perfectly valid question. The answer is slightly complicated. For one thing, my mother, despite her asocial behavior, had a strong sense of morality. She told me the importance of doing the right thing even at great personal risk. She also told me the importance of politeness, even though she was committed to avoiding prolonged civilized contact. Before you all ask, being in the gang was an act of desperation for me. I felt like I was betraying my mother every day I was with them. Now that I am working for the Guild I feel like I am doing her proud. Yet, I still wonder what happened to her. She would not abandon me, I know that. I should also add that in addition to my mom’s instruction, after being an outlaw and a prisoner I wanted to give others the best impression of me.”

            Delilah seemed to understand, she replied, “Well, I am sure that your mother would understand and be proud of you now, if she is still alive. She must have been abducted and rendered unable to come back if you ask me, otherwise she would have found you again by now.”

            **Delilah does not know how right she is.**  

            Kyla nodded, she looked down for a moment and thought of her mother. She said to her team, “Now that think about it, I do want to see her again someday. But for now, you three are all I need.”

            They all laughed as they received their food. After they finished eating Stephan announced, “Well guys, it is time for me to go see my mother again!”

            The team then left the inn; Stephan led the way as they walked through the streets of Riverton. Stephan’s family’s house was very close to the inn, only two blocks away in the direction of the beach. When they arrived at the one story yellow and green house, Stephan took a deep breath and then turned to his friends. He told them, “I want to thank you all for your support. I am going in there to confront my parents, or at least who is there.” Stephan’s team all gave him approving looks and nods as he shook all of their hands.

            **I like the way that, for the most part, Kyla and her teammates all support one another. It’s just nice, I guess.**

            The front door was to the house was locked. However, Stephan knew where his family kept a key. He lifted up a rock nearby the front door and there was a key hidden under it. He then took the key and walked up to the front door of the house. He sighed deeply and then turned the key in the lock, the door opened and Stephan stepped inside his old home.

            **They did not change the location of the key, since they never expected Stephan to come back.**

**\---**

            As Stephan entered his former house he felt both nostalgia and pain. He walked into the small kitchen where he saw a female Swampert awaiting him. Stephan looked her in the eyes and, with obvious pain on his face, said “Hello mother.”

            Stephan’s mother, Marsha, glared at him for what felt like a whole minute and then slowly, her voice filled with hate, said, “What are you doing here, Stephan? I was very clear when I said that I never wanted to see you again and that you would have absolutely no luck trying to get me to take you back.”

            Stephan did his best not to flinch as he remembered the way that his mother brutally kicked him out. However, he decided that he would not back down. He responded to Marsha, “I do not expect you to take me back. I came to tell you that my life is fine without you and dad at this point. I have a new job and friends who like me for who I am. I just wanted you to know that your kicking me out did not destroy my life.”

            **Well, he said what he wanted to say.**

            Stephan’s mother glared at him and responded, “I do not care what you do now, and you are not my son anymore! You are disgusting and perverted and I am glad that your father is working at the docks right now so he does not have to see me get so angry! I will not have a homosexual in my family and that is final. Now leave before I eject you by force… again!”

            **That pretty much confirms that she did that when she originally disowned Stephan.**

            Stephan shouted back, “I am living my life just fine without you and that is all that matters to me! Your not accepting me was your loss!” He then turned to leave.

            His mother responded as he was leaving, “You will never be happy, Stephan, you are just in denial. You should have stayed quiet about this and found a nice girl. The things you do will never bring you a satisfying life.”

            **Obviously, I intended Marsha to be highly unsympathetic in this scene. More on her being antagonistic will be discussed in the commentary later on. Not in this chapter, though.**

            Stephan did not even turn to respond, he knew how enraged his mother was over her only child being gay, however, he did not let her rage get to him. He left the house and shut the door. The last thing he heard as he returned to his allies was his mother shouting, “Pervert!” out of one of the houses windows.

            **I will admit that Marsha has a lot of the features of a straw woman. To be clear, that scene was not inspired by any actual life experiences of mine. To be honest, I am not gay and my parents do not hate gay people anyways. I also don’t have any close friends who were disowned for being LGBT either.**

            Stephan walked over to his team and they began to walk away. However, when they made it back to the inn Stephan sighed and then broke into tears. “My mother just did not care what I said! She just kept on spewing the same hate that she gave me when I refused to keep my orientation a secret and date girls. I am sorry that I dragged you guys down here!”

            **After all that Marsha said to him, I do not blame him for crying.**

            Kyla sighed and then gave Stephan a hug. As she had him in her arms Kyla told Stephan, “Don’t listen to what she says. You are a good Pokémon and I know that because you have been an excellent friend and teammate. You are free to live your life without anyone judging you or getting you down.”

            **I love you, Kyla. You do not deserve all that this story puts you through.**

            Chad and Delilah both joined Kyla and the team shared a group hug. Stephan’s tears dried up and then he smiled, “Thank you, all of you! You are guys are great! Lets’ just get back to Polumbos town tomorrow.”

            As the team ended their group hug, Chad mentioned, “I, if it’s ok with Stephan, think we should stick around Riverton for another day or more, we should look for a job or two while we are here as well.”

            **I am sure that if Stephan were desperate enough to leave Riverton, that Chadwick would be perfectly willing to go back to Polumbos.**

            Stephan nodded and then said, “The town is big enough that we can avoid my ‘family’ for another day or two. We are still an Alliance Territory team so we should easily be able to get some missions around here.”

            Kyla then looked over at Chadwick, took his hand and said, “Why don’t we find a nice place to go to dinner tonight, our first real date.”

            Chad just nodded eagerly and said, “If you wish. I will pay again, my darling.”

            Delilah and Stephan both agreed to go out on the town that night by themselves while Chadwick and Kyla headed to a restaurant in the northern part of Riverton.

            After they sat down at their table and ordered their dinners Chad looked over at Kyla, he gazed over at her and then said, “You know Kyla, what you did for Stephan, making sure he knew that you strongly disagree with what his ‘mother’ said about him was wonderful. It is important that he knows he is not really a pervert. My point in bringing all of this up is that you are a very good Pokémon and that is one of the reasons why I want to be with you.”

            **I think I missed a massive error in that paragraph before. I fixed it this time, thankfully.**

            Kyla simply blushed at Chadwick’s compliment and she replied, “I am just glad that I’m with a gentlemon who cares about me so much.”

            **Still using the term gentlemon.**  

            Chadwick smiled back at her. The young couple’s dinner went perfectly well, it concluded with the pair returning to the inn to get some rest. Kyla invited Chad into her room where they both sat on the slightly raised bed and each put an arm around the other.

            Kyla looked Chad in the eyes and, with a warm smile on her face, said; “I know that you see it as your obligation as a gentlemon, but I still appreciate your paying for dinner at the couple of fancy places we have been out to.”

            Chad smiled and responded, “Think nothing of it. It’s not just a gentlemon’s obligation, I do it because I love you. So, could I have another kiss from my lovely lady? …Assuming you want to give me one that is.”

            **He is still considerate of her, in the sense that he asked for her consent for a kiss first.**

            Kyla did not say a word. However, she grinned and then leaned in with her eyes closed and her lips puckered. Chad did the same and they embraced each other and shared a long kiss.

            The next morning Kyla woke up to a knock at her door. She noticed that the sun had not yet fully risen as she ran to get the door and saw Chad waiting for her. “Good morning Kyla.” He began, and then he continued. “I just wanted to thank you for last evening. You are honestly a great kisser.”

            Kyla blushed and then realized something, “Come to the window with me!” She shouted as she grabbed her boyfriend’s arm and pulled him over to the window.

            Chad seemed surprised, but he followed Kyla to the window. There they watched as the sun rose. Kyla explained, “I have done this every morning I could for as long as I can remember, and now I am doing it with you.” Kyla and Chad each put an arm on each other’s back as they watched the sunrise together.

            **To Kyla, that is a major milestone in their relationship.**

            After a few moments, Chadwick told Kyla, “Thank you for being willing to share this with me, it’s so beautiful, just like you.”

            He then added, “Yes, I know that was a bit cheesy, but I meant it.”

            **I am really glad that Chad recognized how cheesy that line was.**

            The two of them turned to face each other and Kyla told Chad, “I think I love you.” The pair then shared another kiss and then walked downstairs, hand in hand, to meet with their teammates.

            **Well, the romance arc continues. Obviously, it cannot go on this perfectly forever…**


	12. On the Riverton Beach

            **I thought that I had named this chapter “On the Beach at Riverton?”**

            Over the next week, the team did some jobs in the Riverton area, such as rescuing Pokémon who had gotten lost in uncivilized areas and retrieving some barge cargo that had been stolen by outlaws and bringing in the culprits. They had decided to leave the town at the end of the week and on their last full day in Riverton they had decided to go to the public beach. Stephan, being a Water Type Pokémon, was spending time in the river swimming, while Delilah was sitting as far away from the water as possible. Chad and Kyla had played together in the water for hours. When they had become tired, they trekked back onto the beach and got a large white cloth towel to lie down on. Chad was laying on his back with an arm around Kyla who had both her arms around him with her body perpendicular to his.

            Kyla and Chadwick had been spending plenty of time together over that week and she had been getting far more comfortable around him. Chad had also made it clear he was willing to help Kyla if she was interested in trying to find her mother in the future. Kyla had decided, with their return to Polumbos Town approaching, that she was going to ask Chad something important to her. Kyla asked, “Honey, I was thinking that when we get back to Polumbos that I could meet your family. Since we are dating now, I would love to meet them.”

            Chadwick gulped, a deeply awkward look appeared on his face.  Kyla noticed it quickly. As she cocked her head, Chad slowly began, “Kyla, honey, do you know what forbidden love is?”

            **Right here is where Chad puts his metaphorical foot in it.**

            Kyla gave Chad an inquisitive look and asked, “Chad…why are you asking me that? I know what forbidden love is.”

            Chad sighed deeply and said, “Sweetie, that is what we have. You are, despite your good intentions and wonderful personality, a former outlaw. I, on the other hand, am a member of polite society. I think that us having a secret love affair, with only our close friends knowing, is and will be very romantic.”

            **This feels like one of the only times in the story where Chad shows any cowardice.**

            Kyla’s face took on a disgusted look as she withdrew her arms from Chad and stood up, she put her hands on her hips and said, “I cannot believe this! You said that you loved me! And I loved you back! Why would you be ashamed of me if you love me? I want US to work, but in order for our relationship to work, you will have to tell your family that we are together. I want to come with you so I can meet them. I do not want ‘forbidden love’ I want us to be together openly… or not at all.”

            **It seems that Kyla needs to stand up for herself pretty consistently in this story.**

            Chad immediately admitted, as he stood up, “That is not what I wanted to hear. Kyla…I still love you, but I admit I am worried about how my family will react to you. I am scared, for once in my life. I will have to think about this.”

            **Seems like Chad also knows that he is being a coward, something he almost never is.**

            Kyla sighed, and with a single tear going down her face, responded, “We should spend some time apart, then. Let me know when you have made your decision. If you want me, you will need to be with me publicly! Sorry, but that is just the way it has to be.”

            **Headstrong and stubborn are two words I would use to describe Kyla. I think that she has a point here, though.**

            Chad nodded at Kyla, as she left the beach. Fuming, Kyla headed back to the inn the team was staying to pack her things. Kyla had left her door open, Delilah walked in to the inn room and said, “Hey Kyla, I saw you getting up and leaving the beach, so I followed you back. What is going on?”

            Kyla gave a heavy sigh and then invited Delilah to sit down on the bed with her then she said, “When I asked Chad if I could meet his family he told me that our relationship was ‘forbidden love’ and that because I was an outlaw and he was high society we should not let anyone other than close friends know of our relationship. I was furious, of course, and told him that if he wanted to be with me he would have to be with me openly, including to his family.”

            Delilah thought for a moment and then replied, “I see… well maybe you rushed into a relationship with him too fast? Maybe he is the wrong boyfriend for you? As for me, I am more a fan of brief romantic trysts that sometimes only last a single night… like what I did with one of Akira’s younger brothers. I have not seriously considered a long-term relationship…yet. That is the one way in which I have disappointed my parents.” Delilah chuckled awkwardly as she finished her statement.

            **Delilah has a valid point about Kyla rushing in to the relationship a bit too fast.**  

            Kyla responded to Delilah, “As much as you are a good friend of mine, we are not the same in that regard. I really was, and still am, hoping that Chad and I will have a successful long-term relationship. I gave him a simple ultimatum, if he wants me, he will have to overcome his fear and introduce me to his family. I refuse to let him, or me, live a lie.”

            Delilah seemed to understand and told Kyla, “Well, it is your life. If you need any more help with this, than you can always talk to me.”

            Kyla and Delilah shared a hug and Delilah went to her own room to pack. Kyla did not see Chad the rest of the day. The next morning Delilah and Stephan told her that he had left a note saying that he was going back to Polumbos town ahead of them. Kyla suspected that he was too ashamed to face her after their fight. The trio then walked back to town together and arrived in the late evening. Kyla returned to her room in Chansey’s inn and slept the best she could.

            Over the next week Kyla, Delilah and Stephan found no trace of Chad. Delilah checked with Chad’s family, who told her that he had shown up for just an evening and then headed out of town through the north exit. Sunflora mentioned him dropping by the guild office briefly, but she did not know where he was headed. The trio did a couple of minor and easy, jobs close to Polumbos Town over the next week, all the while wondering where Chad had gone off too.

            One day when coming down to the first floor of the inn, Kyla saw Chansey waiting for her. Chansey said, “Hey Kyla! I have a note for you, it’s from Chad.”

            Kyla looked both relieved and surprised as she took the note and read it. It read: “Dear Kyla, I have thought over the dilemma that we have been having and I have made my decision. Please meet me at noon at the latest at our spot just outside of town.”

            **Apparently, he is calling it “our spot” now.**

            Kyla thought it over for a moment and then told Chansey, “Thank you for this. I will have breakfast and then head over there.”

            Chansey nodded as Kyla ordered her food. Then Stephan, who was aware of Kyla and Chadwick’s fight, came down and sat at a table with Kyla.  

            Kyla looked over to her friend and told him, “Chad left me a note. He wants to meet me at a particular spot later today. I am not sure why?”

            **I think that Kyla was just not sure why Chadwick wanted to meet with her outside of town to tell her his decision.**

            Stephan replied, “Well, are you going to go meet him? I was wondering when he would show up again. Even after his whole stupid ‘forbidden love’ bit I was worried about him.”

            **Of course Stephan agrees with Kyla about what Chadwick said.**

            Kyla thought briefly and then told Stephan, “I want my relationship with him to work and I want to know why he has been gone for a week anyways. However, if he refuses to have ‘US’ be a public thing I cannot in good conscience be with him. I really do not want to break it off though, even though I am admittedly quite angry with him.”

            Stephan replied, “Well go see him in that case.”

            Kyla nodded and then said, firmly, “I’ll go then!”

            Kyla and Stephan ate their meals and then Kyla left the inn and walked, alone, to the spot where Chad had first confessed his love for her.

            When she arrived, she heard a voice she recognized saying, “Hello Kyla, I have missed you.” She turned around and saw Chad, however, he was now much taller than the last time she had seen him.

            **Well, I felt like I had to give their relationship some sort of conflict. And there it was…**


	13. Re-United

            **And it feels so good… Sorry, I could not help myself.**

            Kyla looked up and saw that Chadwick had evolved into a Machoke. He was looking down at her with one of his arms behind his back.

            Kyla, somewhat angrily, asked Chad, “What have you been up to? You should know we have all been very worried about you. We actually started to think that you had left town permanently. And now you have evolved. What have you all been doing all this time?”

            Chad, with one arm still behind his back, told Kyla, “If you must know, I have been doing jobs out in the outer farms and near the outpost. I was too afraid to face you and the others after what I said to you. I felt that I needed some time alone. After helping bring some minor criminals in to the Sheriff’s prison, I had some time to talk with Akira. I told her about our fight and she told me about how she and the Guild Master had been in love back when she was a member of his team and how she regrets having left to take a job with Mamoswine because it took her away from him. She told me she fully intends to eventually see him again. After that, I decided to return to Polumbos Town.”

            Kyla, having followed his statement so far, asked him, “Not to be rude, but where are you going with this? I assume you wanted to meet with me again for a reason. I am still upset about the whole ‘forbidden love’ thing from before.”

            **And she wants him to remember that.**

            Chad took a deep breath and then continued, “The thing is… I still love you Kyla!”

            Kyla retorted, “If you actually love me, then you need to stop hiding our relationship from your family!”

            Chadwick seemed to understand her statement as he nodded solemnly, “Well… I am not making any promises that it will go well, but I have decided that you mean far too much to me for me to lose you over this dispute. We can go to see my family today and see what happens, if that is what you want to do. I would rather they know the truth then lose you.”

            Kyla was speechless as Chad moved his arm from behind to in front of his back; she saw that he was holding a small wooden box with a hinge on it. Chad then said, “Just to show you sorry I am, I got you a gift. It was quite expensive, but I think it will be more than worth the money it cost me.”

            Chad opened the box and inside it was a shiny ribbon that glowed brightly. Chadwick tossed it down to Kyla, saying, “Catch!”

            Kyla caught the ribbon and while smiling warmly asked Chadwick, “A Gold Ribbon? I cannot wait to wear it out somewhere nice!”

            **That is a reference to an item in PMD that only exists to be sold for money. I think that it could double as an item of clothing.**  

            The ribbon started glowing extremely brightly and the glow started spreading to Kyla’s body. Kyla said, “Wait a second, this is not a Gold Ribbon, it is a…”

            Kyla’s entire body began to glow as she began to grow taller and taller. Kyla evolved from Riolu into Lucario feeling pure energy surge through her entire body. She then finished her sentence by saying, “Sun Ribbon.”  

            **Because I was not using the IQ system or the Friendship system, I made the Sun-Ribbon the only requirement for evolutions that required leveling up with high friendship during the day.**

            Almost immediately after her evolution, Kyla was overwhelmed by a series of feelings in her head. She was somehow sensing a massive number of emotions using the four black “ears” coming out of the back of her head. Many of them were contradicting each other and slowly but surely she started realizing the range and direction of some of them with respect to her.

            As Kyla clutched her head Chad ran up to her and put his hand on her shoulder, “Kyla, honey, I think that your Aura Sense is coming in. Try to focus on me; it may take you a moment. You will get used to it, like I am sure your mother did.”

            Kyla did her best to focus in on Chadwick, she took a couple of moments and was able to slowly, but surely, drown out the other auras in the vicinity and focus on him. She could sense that he was feeling concerned, but also she sensed a warm feeling coming from him; something she assumed had to be love. Kyla was, with some effort, finally able to suppress the other auras in the area and stay focused on Chadwick.

            **Aura sense was a gimmick I got from some Pokédex entries on Lucario. I basically ignored any similar abilities like that Riolu may have and made it exclusive to Lucario. Kyla’s ability to sense auras comes in handy multiple times later in the story. I did my best to remember that Kyla had that ability, but I might have forgot it a few times. Obviously, all Lucario in this setting have that unique power.**

            Kyla got up and stopped clenching her head. Chad seemed very relieved and she smiled at him, saying, “I will have to make sure to work more on my Aura Sense later.” Kyla then backed up a bit and twirled around, as she came back to face Chad she asked him, “How do I look?”

            Chad immediately told her, “You look beautiful. Now I have a promise to keep to you. Lets’ go see my parents.”  

            Forgiving him for his past misbehavior Kyla tackle-hugged Chadwick, and the two of them shared a passionate kiss. Walking hand in hand the two of them walked back into Polumbos Town. Chadwick took Kyla, who was doing her best to focus on and off the various Pokémon’s auras to practice her new power, to his two-story house, which was nearby Delilah’s. Chad took a key out and opened the door and the pair entered the building.

            When Chad and Kyla entered the kitchen they saw a female Machamp washing some dishes. She turned around and smiled at her son, saying, “Why there you are, Chadwick. You have finally evolved I see. You know that I have not seen you in a week? Now, who is this young lady accompanying you?”

            **I will say that as much as I did my best to create a gender-egalitarian world for ROC, you do not see any stay-at home fathers in the series, to my memory. Also, it seems like Pokémon can recognize those close to them even after they evolve.**

            Chad told his mother, “I have been working in the nearby area for the last week, mom. And this here is my teammate Kyla.”

            Chadwick’s mother extended one of her lower hands and shook one of Kyla’s hands saying, “Nice to meet you Kyla, my name is Marissa. Chad’s father Elijah and his brother Jonathan are still at work.”

            Kyla gave Chad a skeptical look, after she stopped shaking his mother’s hand. She was wondering if he would tell his mother the truth about their relationship.

            Marissa asked her son, “So, why have you come over, did you just want me to meet one of your teammates or…”

            Chadwick interrupted his mother by saying, “Well…mom, me and Kyla have recently started dating and I realized that my family should meet my girlfriend.”

            **Now, he is starting to tell the truth…**

            Marissa looked overjoyed, she said, “Well, son, I am happy that you finally decided to commit to a girl. I will have to learn all about her, since she is the first one you have seen fit to introduce me to.”

            Kyla blushed, remembering that she was Chadwick’s first steady romantic partner.  

            Chad sighed awkwardly and then told his mother, “You see mom, there is something else you should know about Kyla… she spent some time before joining the Guild in prison for being part of a gang, she…”

            Immediately after hearing about Kyla’s past Marissa face-palmed with one of her lower arms. Her face then took on a very angry look; Kyla sensed a rapid change in her aura from warm and loving to almost enraged. Marissa told Chadwick, “I cannot believe this, Chadwick! The first time you find someone that you can commit to and she is a common criminal! Your father and I did NOT raise you this way! I do not even know how the Guild let her in!”

            **She sounds like Hans… Also, there’s another example of a face-palm in my story.**

            Chad shot back at Marissa, “Mom, you have not even had a chance to really talk to her yet! She is actually very loyal, brave and nice! I LOVE her and I only waited this long to tell you because I was scared you would react this way.”

            **Now we begin to see why Chadwick was scared in the first place.**

            Marissa took a moment to calm down and then sighed deeply, she said, “I will obviously not go as far as to disown you for being with her, but we do have standards in this family. If you do make the mistake of staying with her on a permanent basis, then we will cut out your inheritance entirely!”

            Kyla finally turned away from Chadwick and said, tears running down her face, “I am so sorry, I did not know this would happen. I can’t stand our relationship causing you to lose favor with you family. I guess we really should cut it off. Thank you for everything, though.”

            **I put that line in to show that Kyla does care for Chad and also that she felt a bit guilty about driving him to tell his mother the truth after seeing her reaction.**

            As Kyla was about to begin sobbing Chad spun around and embraced her, he then looked Kyla in the eyes and told her, firmly, “Don’t say things like that! You mean more to me than my inheritance money. Anyway, with our team being a success so far we can easily become financially secure. I am not going to let you leave! I have learned my lesson from our fight and I also refuse to let our love be forbidden!”

            **I wanted to show some ambiguity with the whole ‘Forbidden Love’ conflict, but now Chad has accepted that he needs to open about his relationship with Kyla.**

            Chadwick then turned to his mother, who had been watching the whole scene, he said, “Do you see now what kind of Pokémon Kyla is now? She was a victim of circumstances who hated having to turn to crime. I am not going to let anyone ruin my relationship with her, not even my own family!”

            Marissa sighed again and then Kyla noticed her aura showing some new emotions, including what she read as grudging respect. Marissa replied, “Well Chad, if she really means that much to you then why don’t we have her for dinner tonight and see how she does with the whole family around?”

            As Marissa went back to her housework Kyla, who was still in Chadwick’s arms smiled at him, saying, “I am glad she saw reason, thank you for standing up for me. I can now really forgive you for the ‘forbidden love’ incident at this point… especially because you did predict your mother’s reaction pretty well.”

            “Think nothing of it.” Chad told Kyla as she wrapped her arms around him. The pair then shared another quick kiss while Marissa wasn’t looking in their direction.

            **I don’t think that they wanted her to see them kiss at that point.**

            That evening Chadwick’s brother, Jonathan, who was still a Machop, returned from his job as mayor Armaldo’s assistant. Soon after that, Chad and Jonathan’s father Elijah the Electivire returned from his job and the five of them sat down to a dinner cooked by Marissa.

            Elijah, who Marissa had informed about Kyla’s past asked, “So, Kyla, out of curiosity did you express interest in me and Marissa’s son because you wanted to appear as a member of polite society, not as a common criminal?”

            Kyla looked at Elijah awkwardly and then responded, suppressing her annoyance at his rude question, “No sir, you have to understand that it was Chad who expressed romantic interest in me first. He told me that he was in love with me and I came to realize that I loved him back soon after that.”

            **It looks like Kyla is able to suppress her anger at those who question her integrity when she really needs to.**

            Elijah and Marissa looked at each other in surprise and then Chad told his mother and father, “She is telling the truth, I was critical of her at first. I saw her as a back-stabbing criminal who would betray the team. However, after our first mission I realized what sort of Pokémon she really is and I later developed an attraction to her.”

            Chad’s parents continued to look at each other in disbelief, then Elijah said, “This is quite a surprise, Chadwick. Why would you even consider someone like her for a girlfriend, what about your friend Delilah? She is on your team and…”

            Chad and Kyla both quickly broke into uproarious laughter at Elijah’s statement. Kyla told Chadwick’s parents once she stopped laughing, “Delilah is a good friend of ours, but she is not exactly a one guy sort of girl. I do not think she is in the market for a boyfriend right now.”

            Chadwick nodded in agreement with his girlfriend’s statement as he continued laughing.

            Both of Chadwick’s parents looked slightly distressed because their idea had been so quickly debunked by Chad and Kyla. Jonathan was too busy eating to respond to the conflict between his parents and the young couple. Elijah then sighed and looked his son in the eyes, he told him, and “If you really trust her, then I guess we do not have a choice but to let your little relationship with her run its course. Just let us know when it is over.”

            **Chad’s parents still would rather not have him with an ex-criminal. They eventually realize that there is no stopping the two of them.**

            Kyla fumed a bit as she kept eating slowly. Chadwick just gave his parents an awkward smile and said, “We will see, but I think that our relationship is here to stay.” He gave Kyla a one armed “love-squeeze” as he finished his statement. Kyla smiled at Chad and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

            After dinner was over Chad was going to walk Kyla back to the inn. As they were on their way, he told her, “I am sorry about my parents, I hope that they get used to us being a couple sooner rather than later. At least they know now.”

            Kyla smiled awkwardly back and nodded at him, rubbing the back of her head with one of her hands, she then replied, “We do not need to see them together again anytime soon. I am kind of sorry about our fight before now. However, I still want us to avoid shying away from the truth about our relationship. I am sure that most Pokémon will not mind.”

            Chad replied, “Lets’ just focus on us for now, we have a lot to put in the past. To be honest with you, I really don’t care if my parents disapprove of our love at this point. I am admittedly also glad that we were honest with them.”

            Kyla smiled over at him and said, taking his hand, “You know, I might need a new room at the inn since I am taller now. I was wondering if we could maybe head out to the forest just near town. You know, somewhere private where we can spend some time alone. With my Aura Sense I should be able to detect anyone coming from a good distance away.”

            **I think that Kyla is hinting at something…**

            Chadwick smiled back at Kyla, saying, “Sounds good to me.”

            The two of them headed out of the west gate of town to the nearby forest where, after a bit of searching, they found a small, isolated, clearing and lit a fire.

            Chadwick took Kyla’s hand again and then asked her, “My lady, may I have this dance?”

            Kyla giggled and nodded yes and the two of them spent the next two hours dancing around the fire. There was no music playing, of course, but the two of them did not care one bit. As the evening went on the dancing started to slow down and the two of them eventually came into an embrace with their eyes almost linked.

            **The following scene is the most intimate that one of my ROC stories ever gets. I am sincerely sorry if it grossed out any readers.**

            Kyla smiled warmly at Chad as she felt the love radiating from him, both his from aura and from his body language. There was another feeling that she sensed coming from him, this one she also felt herself.

            **Riolu aren’t in any egg group, but Lucario are in two. I assumed that, therefore, they only reach ‘maturity’ after evolving. Kyla has only just started having certain desires that day…**

            Chad interrupted Kyla’s thoughts by saying, “This has been great, a romantic night with just me and you, no one to interrupt us or judge us.”

            Kyla kissed him and replied, “And the best part is, that the night is still young.”

            Chadwick gently rubbed Kyla’s back as he held her, whispering to her, “I love holding you like this. Know that, at least metaphorically, I will never let you go.”

            **Yeah, I could have taken out the part about the metaphor.**

            Kyla then disengaged the embrace and walked slowly over to a large pile of leaves, beckoning him over to her. When he arrived she wrapped her arms tightly around his chest and whispered into his ear, “Lets make your parents, REALLY disappointed.”

            Chadwick did not say a word, but he wrapped his arms tightly, but gently, around Kyla and laid her down into the warm pile of leaves, kissing her all the way.

            **Yep, that is the most intimate any descriptions get in this series, at least as far as I remember it.**

            Kyla awoke the next morning to find herself on the grassy ground of the clearing. She was looking up at the sun, which had already risen. She felt a strong arm around her, realizing whom it belonged to she turned to her head to her right and looked right into an, already awake, Chad’s eyes.

            As soon as their eyes met, Chad calmly said, “Good morning, Kyla.”

            **Well, that concludes the main romance-focused arc. Next up, is the last major arc before the main plot gets underway. I actually think now that I rushed the main romance too quickly. I hope that the, admittedly odd, idea of Pokémon romance did not scare off too many readers who might have otherwise finished the story.**


	14. Over the Mountains

             Chadwick removed his arm from Kyla and then stood up, he extended an arm to help her up; she smiled warmly as she took his hand and stood up next to him.

            Kyla stretched out her arms and yawned and then Chad asked her, “How did you sleep?”

            Kyla replied, “I slept fine. Of course, that was not what I will remember about last night.”

            Chad responded, “I will never forget last night.”

            Kyla took Chad’s hand and said, “We should be getting back to town. I need to inquire about a new inn room anyways.”

            As they were walking back to town Chad asked Kyla, “Do you think that we could eventually move in together. Maybe next time someone moves out of Polumbos Town we could move in to their old home. Or, once we get the money we could commission Rhyperior’s construction company to build us a custom house on an open lot in town.”

            **Setting up a future development in the plot there.**

            Kyla thought it over for a moment and then said, “That actually sounds like a good idea. I think that it will be cheaper though if we move into a house that has already been built, and maybe have the construction company renovate it if necessary.”

            **Apparently, Kyla can be a bit cheap at times. Of course, a new house is usually quite expensive.**

            Chad nodded in agreement as the two of them entered town through the west entrance and then they walked past the center of town. They reached the inn where they found Delilah and Stephan waiting for them.

            Both Delilah and Stephan looked up at their teammates, Delilah said, “Well look at you two! I see that you both have evolved. Also, it looks like you two have made up.”

            **Delilah, once again, has no idea of how right she is.**

            Stephan said, “Anyway, we were waiting for you two lovebirds to show up because we have all been summoned to the Guild Office.”

            Kyla nodded, saying to Chadwick, “We will have to look into a place to live together later.”

            Delilah grinned at the young couple, “That must have been one heck of a makeup you two had last night if you are talking about living together.”

            Kyla and Chadwick both blushed and Stephan and Delilah looked at each other and nodded in mutual understanding.

            Chadwick then said, “Well, we need to get to the guild office now, it’s not far from here.”

            Delilah and Stephan nodded in agreement and the four of them walked over to the guild office where Sunflora was waiting for them.

            Sunflora waited until the entire team was in the room and then, looking down at a long letter she was holding and then looking up, said, “I am Glad to see all of you here. I have asked your team to come to the office because our Guild master, Zoroark, has requested reinforcements from our office for an important expedition to some ancient, human-built ruins. The ruins are nearby Megapolis, the city over the mountains where the Guild’s headquarters is located. The other team in this area has already left for Megapolis. You all will be headed up the road to the outpost then over the mountain pass and across the plains to the city. There you can find the Guild’s main office. I have already sent a letter back to HQ, via Pellipper, saying that both of your teams will be there in a week, barring unforeseen circumstances.”

            **Pellipper acting as couriers is another reference to the original PMD games.**

            Kyla looked excited and said, “This is great, we finally get to meet the Guild Master and explore some human ruins. I have heard that the mountain pass is dangerous, though.”

            **The name Megapolis basically means big city. I could not think of a better name, apparently.**

            Sunflora nodded and said, “Well, the pass is filled with predatory wild Pokémon. However, I believe that you all will be up to the challenge. You should set out as soon as possible. I wish you the best of luck on this mission.”

            Sunflora saluted the team and they saluted her back. The team members all went to their places of residence to pack, Chadwick and Delilah had agreed to go to a shop to buy some restorative items before the team would head out the north gate.

            Kyla and Stephan were walking to the north gate of town after retrieving their money from their inn rooms.

            Stephan asked Kyla, “So, what happened between you and Chad last night?”

            Kyla sighed, while smiling awkwardly, and told Stephan, “To make a long story short… Chad apologized for his ‘forbidden love’ remarks and took me to meet his family. They were not crazy about our relationship, but they decided to let it ‘run its course.’ Then we headed out to the forest and well….”

            **I actually removed a more explicit reference from the end of that last sentence before the initial posting.**

            Stephan did not look at all surprised as he replied, “Both me and Delilah were able to figure that out pretty easily. I am really happy that you and Chadwick are happily together again. If you do move in with him, I will miss our breakfasts. Of course, I do not intend to live in the inn forever. I have a boyfriend myself now.”

            Kyla looked genuinely surprised at Stephan as she both felt the happiness in his aura and saw it in his face. She asked him, “Who is he?”

            Stephen was quick to respond, “His name is Stanford, and I have actually mentioned him before. He was the Grovyle who convinced me to confront my mother. I found him at the bar after we returned from our visit to Riverton and after I told him what happened he apologized to me. He did not realize how much of a hag my mother is when he gave me the advice. We spent another night together and then began seeing each other regularly. I will miss him on this trip, but I think it is important that we do our duty as Guild members.”

            **There, I introduce one of this story’s many beta romantic plots is for the first time in detail.**

            Kyla replied, “Well, I for one am very excited for this trip and I am happy that my boyfriend will be with be the whole trip… sorry if that makes you upset. I am very happy for you as your friend, you know.”

            Stephan’s face and his aura remained cheerful as he gave Kyla a quick pat on the back, “Everything will be fine, now lets’ meet up with the other two.”

            **It seems like getting romantically involved has made Stephan cheer up quite a bit.**

            When Kyla and Stephan reached Delilah and Chadwick the latter pair were both laughing. Kyla asked them, “What’s so funny?”

            Delilah replied, “The idea of me and Chad together that his parents suggested last night. We both find it hilarious. Anyway, I am legitimately happy for all three of you. Stephan told me about Stanford and I told Chad, with Stephan’s permission.”

            Stephan then added, “Well, I told Kyla about him, why don’t we head off now. We should be able to reach the prison by sundown and rest in a guest room there.” 

            The team did arrive at the prison by sundown, as Stephan had predicted. They learned from one of the Sneasel brothers on duty that the other team had passed by earlier that day, they had been trying to reach the outpost as soon as possible. The team rested, all in the same room, that night and the next morning, as they were about to leave, Akira approached Kyla.

            Akira asked Kyla, “I heard from Delilah that you all are headed for the big city. Also, that Chad followed my advice and made up with you, I think you two are cute together, actually.”

            Kyla could not help but blush and then reply, “Yes, we are headed for the big city. I have heard that almost all the buildings there are partially restored human ruins, including the Guild’s HQ. And yes, me and Chadwick are back together and doing fine, thank you very much.”

            Akira nodded and Kyla sensed a mix of emotions in her aura. Akira continued, “I am happy about you and Chadwick working things out. However, the real reason is that I want your team to deliver a message to the Guild Master from me, I cannot use the Guild’s Pellipper because I am technically no longer a member, so I want you to make sure that my letter reaches him, understood?”

            **And now, another beta romantic subplot comes up.**

            After Akira handed Kyla the letter, Kyla could not help but ask, “Does this have to do with the you and him having been together in the past?”

            **Kyla knows what’s going on…**

            Akira blushed brightly and replied, “Well, if you must know, it does. Shade, and I, Shade is his actual name, were together for some time. Please do not read it though, just give it to him.”

            Kyla saluted Akira and told her, “I will do my very best to get this to him, keep up the good work here.”

            Akira smiled warmly at Kyla as they heard Delilah calling out, “Come on Kyla, we need to move out now!”

            Kyla ran to her teammates and the group left the prison. Delilah mentioned to her friends, “You know, I saw that Sableye from before looking over at me as the Sneasel brothers were escorting him somewhere. I just shot a glare at him and he easily shrunk away from me. How the mighty have fallen, I guess.”

            **Here is another big development insight… later on in the writing of this story, I briefly considered having Sableye meet up with Delilah during the main plot arc. He would have expressed some remorse over having kidnapped her. Later on, through a combination of events that I did not fully think through, they would become romantically involved. That idea was never fully implemented, but an element of it showed up in the sequel.**

            Everyone else nodded in agreement as they continued on their way. The team reached the outpost in time for lunch and then began ascending the mountain pass where the remainder of that day and all of the next day passed with no major incidents. At midday on their second day in the pass, around halfway through, the group heard loud screeches coming from behind some rocky pillars.

            They saw a flock of four Pidgey led by a Pidgeotto coming out from behind the rocky pillars and surrounding the team while hovering above the ground. 

             Kyla felt annoyed with herself that she had been too focused on her teammates to sense the wild Pokémon’s auras. However, she did not have much time to blame herself as the Pidgeotto and his allies prepared their attack.

            **When Kyla would no sense hostiles before they were close to the group, I tried to explain why Kyla was not detecting the enemies in advance. I might not have always remembered to do so, however.**

            The Pidgeotto shouted to his allies, “Let me soften them up! Then move in and take the intruders down.” Before the team could attack their assailants, the Pidgeotto unleashed a Gust attack that fanned out into a cone and struck all four team members. Kyla watched as her allies all recoiled, heavily injured by the blast of wind. She realized that her newly acquired Steel Type was reducing her injuries as she saw the four Pidgey moving in on the team, each one taking on a team member.

            **More RPG language…**

            Two of the Pidgey attempted to dive-bomb Delilah and Stephan. Each missed with their Tackle moves. Chadwick suffered a smaller gust from the Pidgey attacking him. The Pidgey moving in on Kyla stopped before reaching melee range and hit her with a quick attack, which, to her attacker’s dismay, barley seemed to scratch her.

            Kyla then smiled and thought, “Ok, we’ve seen what my new body can do in a number of fields, including defense. Now lets’ try offense!”

            **She was thinking about her recent night in the forest in that line, I will admit that.**

            Kyla focused internally as her fingers stretched out sharp Metallic Claws and she delivered a nasty hack to her attacker, who staggered back from the hit.

            Nearby, Delilah turned to the Pidgey attacking her and swung her claws in a rapid burst of four strikes, using Fury Swipes. The Pidgey looked severely injured, with claw marks all over him.

            Stephan backed up and nailed the closest Pidgey in the face with a Water Gun the attack downed the foe, which fell to the ground unconscious.

            Chadwick’s foe was out of his reach so he decided to, taking a running start, charge up at the Pidgeotto leader and deliver a Karate Chop successfully. The Pidgeotto staggered back as Chad made a landing on the other side of his foe.

            The Pidgeotto leader tried to Quick Attack Chadwick, but he dodged the move. Delilah and Stephan’s attackers, the Pidgey who had been targeting Chad had switched to Stephan, both managed to tackle their targets but the pair managed to stay on their feet. Kyla’s foe, realizing he would not be able to injure her with most of his attacks nailed her with a Sand Attack, getting sand in Kyla’s eyes, which made it harder for her too see her foe’s position.

            As Kyla watched her attacker turning to flee, she barely managed to strike him with a Quick Attack to one of his wings, dropping him.

            Delilah hit her foe with an Ember, burning him unconscious and then Stephan counter-Tackled his attacker, injuring him. Chad then turned to the Pidgeotto and remarked, “I see you like flying. Let me teach you a new way to fly!” Chadwick used Seismic Toss, grabbing the Pidgeotto out of the air and tossing him up high, he then fell out of the sky, losing control of himself and crashed into the ground, falling unconscious at Chadwick’s feet.

            **I made Seismic Toss Chad’s strongest move. He normally badly damages, or one-shot K.O.s, enemies he hits with it.**

            The last Pidgey tried to flee from the team, but got taken down by a combination of one of Delilah’s Embers, and a Water Gun from Stephan.

            With the battle won Kyla told her allies, “I think that for the future I will try to focus on looking for incoming enemies using my Aura Sense. Hopefully I can detect them long before they reach us, so we can be prepared.”

            **Good idea, Kyla.**

            The rest of the team agreed and they continued on their way. After another day and a half of walking and a few encounters with weaker groups of wild Pokémon, the team reached the other side of the pass where they rested in a small village that served a similar purpose to the alliance territory’s outpost. It was a trading post, somewhat linked to the city of Megapolis.

            The team then spent the next two full days heading up the plains road until the finally reached the biggest settlement any of them had ever seen.

            As the team walked in through the south gate they all looked around at the city in awe. The place had a strange feel to it, seeing as though almost all of its buildings were the converted ruins of human buildings, many of which had upper floors that were not yet restored and therefore not in use. Some of the old human buildings were completely unoccupied.

            Chad told his teammates, “I heard from my father once that this place was a lot bigger when the humans ran it but the entire center of the city was mysteriously disintegrated around the time that the humans went extinct. And the northern half-ring of the city is a wasteland overrun by wild Pokémon, the southern half-ring is the only area in the ruined city run by civilized Pokémon. Now, we just need to find where the P.A.G. is headquartered.”

            Delilah then asked, “We should go get some lunch first of all. Maybe we can ask where the Guild HQ is after we eat?”

            The rest of the team agreed and they walked to a nearby street café where they ate. As they were leaving, after eating their meals, an Electabuzz, who had been eating at a table next to them, asked the team, “Hey, I recognize your badges. Do you work for that Zoroark?”

            Stephan replied, “Well, sir, we sort of do. We are visiting from out of town and we need to find out where the headquarters for his Guild is.”

            The Electabuzz responded, “Ok, I can give you the address.”

            **I think that I should have made that interaction a bit longer. I just wanted to explain how they got the Guild HQ’s address.**

            The team received the address, thanked the Electabuzz, and then was on their way. They walked toward the western edge of the civilized half-ring and then found, at the end of a street, a heavily restored four-story building. Chadwick remarked, “This looks like it might have been an apartment building at some point. I am honestly just guessing though.”

            **He is, in fact, right.**

            The four of them walked up to the door which had buttons at multiple heights next to it, every button had a sign saying “Doorbell, push if you wish to enter,” just above it.

            Kyla pushed one of the buttons and the entire team heard a loud “ding” coming from inside the building. After a moment of waiting, they heard a “click” from just inside the door, which then mechanically swung open, showing a Glaceon and a Leafeon wearing Guild Badges.

            **I was willing to let there be two female Glaceon characters in the story since the first one was an outlaw who only impacted the story in one chapter.**  

            The Leafeon looked over the visitors and then spoke first, “Oh, you must be the other team Sunflora sent. My name is Livia and this is my sister Olympia. We work as part of Team Central, which is commanded by Guild Master Shade. Come in, please!”

            The two Pokémon at the door backed up to allow for Kyla and her teammates to enter the lobby of the HQ. The lobby had a large staircase at the back of it and a number of chairs and couches as well as a desk with a large fake Guild badge hanging behind it. Kyla and her teammates noticed strange objects on the ceiling lighting up the room, which they did not recognize. Finally, Kyla noticed that just inside the door there was a button on the floor, which could be tapped by a foot, with the word “open” written on a plaque next to it.

            Olympia walked over to a desk and seemed to be reading a letter perched on it she then came back over and asked, “So you are Chadwick, Delilah, Kyla and Stephan, right?”

            The four members of Kyla’s team all identified themselves and then Olympia continued, “We have heard, via letter, quite a bit about your team’s exploits from arresting the infamous outlaw Sableye to defeating that wild Onix in the outpost’s mines.”

            Livia then interjected, “The other team from Polumbos arrived this morning and went to sleep almost immediately, due to being so tired. They are each in a room on the third floor. We will get you some rooms as well soon. But, first, we should find the Guild Master and inform him that you are here.”

            Kyla remembered that she had a letter from Akira to deliver to Shade, which she had placed in the toolbox. She knew she would need to give it to him.

            A male Infernape then came down the stairs. He asked the two sisters, “Are these the other reinforcements that the boss requested?”

            Olympia replied, “Yes, Rexford, they are. Would you kindly take them to see Shade?”

            As Rexford was shaking hands with Stephan and Chadwick, Kyla retrieved the letter from the toolbox. Rexford then shook hands with Kyla and then walked over to Delilah, asking, “And your name is?”

            “Delilah.” She said, and then Rexford knelt down a bit and kissed her hand, causing Delilah to blush.

            **A bit of obvious foreshadowing there…**

            Rexford then declared, “Alright you four, time to see the Guild Master.”

             As Rexford led the team up the big staircase to the second floor Chadwick whispered to Kyla, “I told him that you were my girlfriend when me and Stephan were introducing ourselves. I think he has his eye on Delilah.”

            Kyla smiled back at Chad and quietly said, winking, “You think?”

            Rexford took the team up to the second floor and down one of the hallways where they eventually reached a door that was labeled, “Guild Master’s Office.” Rexford knocked on the door and a Zoroark who looked over the visitors opened it. He said, “Oh the second team from Polumbos has arrived, opened it Come in, all four of you. Rexford, you are dismissed.”

            Rexford saluted the Guild Master, and then left as Kyla and her teammates were entering Shade’s office. The office had all sorts of strange devices scattered around it and a desk, the only clean part of the room, at the center. A window was open on the side opposite the door. There were maps along all of the walls, and Kyla saw a large sketch hanging from one of the walls that looked awfully similar to Akira.

            **I certainly wanted Shade to be different from Guild Master Wigglytuff of PMD: Explorers fame. He does not spend his time with his head in the metaphorical clouds. In fact, he is more of a researcher/scientist than an explorer.**

            Shade sat down at his desk and began, “Welcome to the city of Megapolis, I appreciate you all coming here. I have heard of your teams work so far and I am proud of it. I also, have heard from Sunflora and others a good deal about who you all are. I find it interesting that two children of wealthy families, someone who was disowned by his and a former criminal could come together to form a successful team.” Shade paused and then looked over to Kyla, “And all because of an impromptu bet made in anger, yes I know the story,” he finished.

            **Shade was also quite good at doing research on living subjects, not just the extinct humans.**  

            As the team shuffled awkwardly, not being aware before how much the Guild’s leadership knew about them all, Shade said, “I am still very happy to meet you all in person, this means we can set off for the Military Ruins tomorrow morning. I will have someone get you settled in to third floor rooms and we can have introductions and the mission briefing tomorrow. Just so you know, the expedition will consist of Myself, Rexford, your team and finally, the other team from Polumbos.”

            Kyla’s teammates were going to head upstairs when she asked to briefly speak to Shade in private, which he granted. When the other three had left, Shade asked Kyla, “So what is this about, Kyla? Do you need me to tell you that your past does not disqualify you from being an effective Guild member, that much is clear to me already.”

            **At least the Guild Master agreed with Kyla. As the Guild’s founder and leader, his opinion certainly mattered.**

            Kyla smiled at Shade and then produced the letter Akira had given her, saying, “Akira wanted me to give you this, sir. I have not read it at all, here you go.”

            Shade tried not to smile too much as he took the letter. However, Kyla could easily sense the happiness in his aura. He replied, “Oh, my old love. You know, I was planning to have a child with her so that I would have someone to carry on my work. I have missed her so ever since she took that job with old Theodore.”

            **And now Mamoswine’s name comes out. In the same chapter as Zoroark’s as well.**

            Kyla asked, looking confused, asked Shade, “Theodore?”

            Shade chuckled a bit and told Kyla, “He almost always goes by Sheriff Mamoswine, but his real name is Theodore. Anyways you should go to your friends on the third floor now.” Kyla and Shade saluted each other and Kyla ran up to the third floor.

            Kyla and Chad ended up sharing a room, while Delilah and Stephan had separate rooms. There was, to Kyla’s relief, a window at the back. As the couple were settling in, Chadwick, who had just been told about the letter, asked Kyla, “You know honey, we have not been able to spend time just the two of us for a week. Why don’t we have another date night tonight?”

            Kyla replied eagerly, “Sounds good to me, lets walk around for a bit and then find a nice place to have dinner and maybe go dancing. Then, we will see where the night takes us.”

            Before the two of them left, they confirmed that Stephan was staying in that night and Rexford, who was apparently the Pokémon who had replaced Akira as the combat expert of team central, had asked Delilah out. Delilah seemed excited, so her teammates did not bother her as she got ready. Kyla and Chadwick set out into the city and, after a couple hours of exploring, found a small park where they sat down on a restored bench.

            Kyla and Chadwick each put an arm around the other, sat back a bit and relaxed. Kyla looked over to Chad and said, “I’m glad that we have finally made it to Megapolis. It’s slightly annoying that we have to go on an expedition tomorrow, but it seems like the Guild Master really wants to go to the nearby ruins. I wonder what could be there?”

            **Something very important…**

            Chadwick responded, “I assume that he believes that his research on humans will be helped by artifacts in those ruins. I wonder why he needs so many reinforcements though?”

            Kyla shrugged her shoulders as Chadwick continued, “To change the subject, I was wondering… actually, and I know that this is a broad question… Do you have any long term life plans, or are you just seeing where being in the Guild will take you?”

            **Seeing as though they are together now, I think that Chadwick asked a reasonable question.**

            Kyla thought for a second and then replied, “I would say that I am waiting to see where Guild work takes me. At least I have been to some new places, made some friends, made some money, gained some respect and even fallen in love.”

            Chad smiled warmly at Kyla and then told her, “I also think we should stay with the Guild for now. However, one of these days I honestly think, once we get our own house. Of course, we could start a family.”

            **I will admit that I had them have that discussion a little too early.**

            Kyla could not help, but cock her head a bit as she heard Chadwick finish his sentence. She then replied, “Maybe you are getting into the idea of starting a family a little early. I am not saying that I am not open to that long term. I think you would make a great father. However, I am unsure of my own parenting skills. How would children react to the news that their mother was in prison and doesn’t even know who her own father was?”

            Chadwick replied, “I would not worry too much about that. I am sure that your own children would have to accept you. Still, you are probably right that I am looking too far ahead, maybe we should just focus on our careers for now.”

            The two of them both agreed to focus on their careers and then sat together in silence for the next couple hours. As evening dawned they left the park to find a nice restaurant to eat in. They ate their dinners and returned to their room at the Guild HQ where they had another fun and romantic night together.

            **And that concludes another long chapter. I think I only wrote around three 4,000+ word chapters in the whole series.**


	15. The Military Ruins

            Kyla woke up to find that Chad was not in bed with her, she assumed that he had gone downstairs and then got herself out of bed. She then looked out the window and, as usual, watched the sunrise. After that, she walked downstairs and saw Chadwick waiting for her.

            **I made sure to have Kyla’s morning ritual show up pretty frequently. The origin of the tradition gets expanded on later. It also shows up in later works within the series.**

            He said to her, “Well there you are, Kyla. We need to meet with the others in the briefing room.”

            Kyla nodded and followed Chad into the briefing room, which was to the right of the lobby. Shade, with Rexford right next to him, was standing in front of a table with a map of the area on it. The other team from the alliance territory including: Hans, Chandra, Alina and Jacob were standing together. Close to the door, Delilah and Stephan were waiting for their teammates to arrive.

            Hans only looked over at Kyla briefly and then he looked away from her. Shade smiled as Chadwick and Kyla entered the room and then he began, “Welcome to the briefing room, everyone. We appreciate you all coming here to fulfill your duty to the Guild. Now, lets’ begin the briefing.”

            Shade then pointed to the map showing the city of Megapolis and then pointed to an old human road that led to a spot, which was marked “Military Ruins.” He then explained, “The Military Ruins are only a couple of hours away from the south entrance to Megapolis. We will march out there together and then split up into three groups. Rexford and I will flank right and the first team from Polumbos will flank left. The second team from Polumbos will go straight to the rear of the ruins.”

            Kyla made a mental note of how her team would be going down the straight path, though the ruins as opposed to flanking, as Shade continued.

            He said, “We will be trying first to clear the area of as many wild Pokémon as possible. Then we will be collecting as many human artifacts as we can bring back to the HQ. Now, many of you are probably wondering why I called for reinforcements for this expedition? There are multiple reasons. For one, it will allow us to clear the area faster and for another I wanted a few tougher Pokémon with me on this mission. That is because all the civilized Pokémon who have gone into the ruins before and have survived the wild Pokémon’s attacks have been attacked by strange creatures with red eyes that spit out swarms of mysterious, and highly dangerous, projectiles. We will need to keep our eyes out for them and take them down if possible. As a final note, we should also look out for any surviving human records and retrieve them for study. Of course, unless they were kept in a very secure environment, they will have probably decayed by now. We will meet up in the rear of the ruins once we have all completed our sweeps in order to begin collecting artifacts. Now, lets’ move out!”

            The Guild Pokémon ate a quick breakfast and then the ten of them walked out of the city through the south gate. Livia and Olympia were ordered to stay and watch the HQ while the others were out on the expedition.

            The marching order on the way to the ruins had Shade and Rexford in front, then Hans and his team second, and then Kyla and her team bringing up the rear.

            After they had been walking for around two hours, they reached the ruins. A heavily rusted fence that had decayed in many places surrounded the entire place. The expedition team found the large opening where the gate to the facility had been. After stepping inside the destroyed gate, Shade gave the order to split up as planned and begin clearing the wild Pokémon out of the area. Before the groups split off, each of the two teams from Polumbos received a pair of Blast Seeds. The seeds were to be used mainly to clear away useless debris or for dealing with enemy threats if necessary. As the other two groups split off, Kyla and her team started walking directly north through the ruins.

            **Another item from the original games makes an appearance here.**

            Chad mentioned, after they were out of view of the others, “Shade told us on the way here that a lot of these broken down old husks were vehicles and that the humans used them both for transport and to fight wars against each other.”

            Delilah chimed in, “I have heard that humans were not as inherently skilled at fighting as we are and that they had to make weapons for themselves.”

            Kyla then pointed out, “The only vehicles that I have heard of are the barges and rafts used to transport non aquatic/airborne Pokémon and cargo over bodies of water, a lot of these husks don’t look like they could float even when they were in good condition. A large number of them also look like they have wings.”

            **Of course, they are encountering the wreckage of military aircraft and land vehicles.**  

            The team approached the wreckage of a large winged vehicle that was in their way. Stephan remarked, “It looks like there are four small windmills on the wings of this thing and there are another set of wings at the back. I see a lot glass windows with some small tubes sticking out of some of the windows.”

            **They have found what remains of a four-engine military transport plane. The windmills are the turboprop engine’s propellers. That exact model of aircraft becomes very relevant towards the end of the story.**

            The team noticed a large hole in one of the vehicle’s sides, a pair of Linoone climbed out of the wreck and then they shouted, “There are intruders in our territory, ATTACK!” A swarm of Zigzagoon followed the pair of Linoone out of the wreck and then they all charged at the team.

            **Time for a swarm fight!**  

            Delilah shouted, “They are coming right for us!”

            **That is a reference to one of my favorite TV shows, South Park.**

            Kyla shouted back at Delilah, “You think?” As she prepared her Metal Claws.

            As the horde of Zigzagoon advanced on the team Stephan said, “I think I can make this a bit easier for us.” He plunged his fists into the ground and then produced a Mud Bomb, which he threw into the left flank of the advancing horde. The attack knocked three of the enemies out, but more kept coming. 

            The pair of Linoone charged ahead of the horde and one of them had the misfortune to run right into Chadwick’s Karate Chop, which did heavy damage to the foe. The Linoone then used Head Butt on Chadwick, which knocked him back a bit.

            The other Linoone charged at Delilah, who dodged a Head Butt and then said, “Time for me to try out a new move.” Delilah used Mach Punch on the Linoone who took some severe injuries from her attack.

            **I generally used an approach to combat scenes resembling turn-based combat. However, I got sick of it pretty quickly. Around the end of the sequel, I started trying to mix things up a bit.**

            A number of Zigzagoon leapt at Kyla, hitting her with Tackles and Head Butts. Kyla’s Steel Type allowed her to take minimal damage. She then counter-attacked one of the weaker looking Zigzagoon with a Metal Claw, dropping him.

            Stephan ran back away from the enemies and then fired off another Mud Bomb taking down another two Zigzagoon. The pair of Linoone, realizing that Stephan was disposing of their minions quickly, charged at him. Delilah used Mach Punch on one of the charging Linoone, knocking him out. The other Linoone, which had been attacking Chadwick, used Head Butt on Stephan, which caused him to flinch. 

            A group of Zigzagoon lunged at Chad, but, like Kyla, he easily took the hits and then rushed over to the remaining Linoone and used a Seismic Toss on him, knocking him out.

            Kyla then used Force Palm to drop another Zigzagoon, her Inner Focus ability making her immune to flinching from the Head Butts she was taking.  

            **Now Kyla’s ability finally comes up.**

            The remaining Zigzagoon, seeing that their leaders were down, started to retreat. However, seeing as though they had been tasked with eliminating any wild threats, the team pursued the retreating enemies.

            Stephan recovered from flinching and then fired off another Mud Bomb, which dropped three of the retreating Zigzagoon. Delilah used Ember on another one, taking him down.

            With only two Zigzagoon left, Kyla charged one with Force Palm and Chadwick charged the other one with a Low Kick. The couple dropped their final two enemies.

            As the team regrouped, Chad said, “Well, that is that. Now, lets’ keep moving. We need to clear the rest of the ruin’s center strip.

            The team kept walking north, fighting a few isolated wild Pokémon on the way, until they found a large, single-story, dark grey building with its front doors completely removed. 

            Kyla said, “I wonder what is in there. This building looks in strangely good shape compared to the rest of these ruins.”

            Stephan remarked, “It is almost like someone has been taking care of this building, but not the rest of the area?”

            **I wonder why that is…**

            Delilah said, “Well, everyone, I guess we should go inside and see what we can find.”

            The rest of the team agreed with Delilah and they walked through the front door. The front of the building was a small lobby with some decayed tables, chairs and a large map that had mostly faded. They all noticed some dim illumination provided by lights similar to the ones they had found in the Guild HQ. Chadwick mentioned, “You know, Shade mentioned to me that these types of lights are the result of human technology that channels and stores electricity. I guess whoever lives here has similar technical skills to the Guild Master.”

            As the team walked out of the lobby and down a hall it became apparent that this old building was mostly made of metal. The team saw a crossroads in the hall up ahead. Kyla then realized that she sensed a single aura coming from underground. She was having trouble deciphering this one though because it felt very different from any aura that she had sensed before.  

            **Not as auras are created equal…**

            As Kyla was about to alert her team, they all heard a loud clanking sound coming from the right hallway of the crossroads. A mechanical voice, whose direction they could not pinpoint, shouted at them, “Intruders in the base. You must leave immediately!” At that point three things with four mechanical legs, single red light beams coming from their upper segments and a large tube on a rotating base next to the light came from out of the right hall. They trained their red beams on the team. The voice continued, “If you value your lives, then you will retreat now.”

               **The drones in this section are both not Pokémon and also not that similar to any real military technology that I know of. I was taking advantage of the alternative nature of the ROC setting with them.**

            Kyla shouted, “These things do not even have auras, but I think whoever is controlling them does have one.”

            The voice shouted, “They are not retreating. Auto-turret drones FIRE!”

            The drones unleashed a torrent of hot lead at the team. Chad screamed, “Fall back to the lobby! These are what Shade warned us about.”

            The entire team did an about face as the drones continued firing. Kyla took a bullet to the shoulder and cringed, the shot felt like no attack she had been hit with before. Chad got shot in the chest three times, Stephan took two hits, and Delilah took a hit as well as they all sought cover behind the lobby’s walls.

            **Thankfully for the team, many Pokémon are more damage resistant than humans, and can therefore survive getting shot and keep fighting. At least that is how I interpreted it.**

            Chad and Kyla were taking cover on one side, while Delilah and Stephan were on the other side.

            Chadwick slowly pulled out a Blast Seed from the team’s toolbox and shouted, “I refuse to make a full retreat! I guess this is as good a time as any… to use this!” He then threw the Blast Seed, which hit a drone and detonated, the drone looked severely damaged, but not out of the fight yet.

            Stephan shouted, “We need a way to get closer to those machines without getting killed!”

            Chad, without saying a word, ran back and grabbed a metal table from the lobby and ripped it off the floor, which it had been nailed to. He then used it like a shield and advanced.

            **That was one of the smarter ideas in my combat scenes in my opinion. The drones were clearly not firing armor-piercing rounds.**

            Chadwick’s teammates followed him as he bravely charged the drones with the table. With bullets bouncing off of his makeshift shield, he got in close enough range to let Delilah fire an Ember at the damaged drone, destroying it.

            Then Stephan used a Mud Shot on another Drone, damaging it and confusing its sensor.

            **I made the drones count as Steel-Type, with all of the weaknesses, immunities and resistances that the type possesses.**   

            Kyla rushed past the table at the weakened drone and used Force Palm on the joint between the four pointed legs and its turret, causing the machine to fall apart. The last drone then turned to her and opened fire. Kyla hit the deck just in time to avoid being ripped to shreds.

            Then Delilah charged up with a Mach Punch, which knocked the drone back. Then, Chad threw the severely damaged table at the final drone, hitting it and causing it to stagger back. Letting Stephan Mud-Slap it, causing it to crumple into a heap.

            The whole team backed up for a moment. They all breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

            Kyla felt anger in the aura below and told her comrades, “Everyone, there is someone beneath us and a bit to the north. We need to take whatever it is down!”

            As Kyla’s teammates nodded at her, the voice came back, saying, “You are impressive, but I will defend this facility to the end. Come and get me, we will be waiting!”

            Stephan asked, “We?”

            Kyla shrugged and said, “There could be more machines or who knows down there.”

            The team waited for a few minutes to try and recover from their injuries and then began walking to the end of the hall where they found a staircase leading downstairs. Two strange, stationary machines flanked the staircase and each of them began to project out a series of blue and red particles, which coalesced into two birdlike Pokémon the team, had never seen before.

            **I was referencing how you can rest in PMD by holding a couple buttons in order to regain health without moving around in that paragraph.**

            The voice then shouted, “Porygon Attack! You are the penultimate line of defense! If you get through these, than you can face me intruders!”

            The two Porygon turned to the team and each fired off a Psybeam, one hit Chad, who staggered back. The other hit Delilah, who also looked badly injured.

            Kyla wasted no time in charging a Porygon and hitting it with Force Palm. Then, Delilah followed up with an Ember on the same Porygon.

            The digital Pokémon showed no outward signs of injury. However, when Stephan hit it with a Water Gun. It fainted, and its particles returned to the machine.

            **I did not think that Porygon would show the same signs of being wounded that biological, or even mechanical, Pokémon would show.**

            Chadwick shouted, “I am not playing here!” and charged the other Porygon, who was neutralized in a single hit from his Seismic Toss.

            Kyla then pointed out, “We should probably destroy these machines, so the ‘Porygon’ do not come back.” She walked over to the left machine and used Force Palm on it. This caused the machine to short circuit and, after Kyla backed up, explode. Chad did the same thing to the right machine with a Low Kick, causing it to detonate as well. 

            **Looks like those machines were also Steel Type…**

            The team, after another brief rest, walked down the stairs where they eventually found a large chamber with a table containing a perfectly preserved map in the center, a massive screen on the back wall, cabinets and weapon racks everywhere and one of the projecting machines in each of the back corners. The source of the one aura, a Magnezone, floated above the center table. 

            Behind the Magnezone, the two machines constructed a pair of Porygon that were cleaner and more polished in their appearance. They both aimed themselves at the team.  Magnezone then glared at the team and shouted, “This is your final warning! You all need to leave this place, or I will do my duty and end all of you!”

            As Kyla wondered what the Magnezone meant by duty, Chadwick shouted, “You have almost gotten us all killed! We are taking you down and getting some answers!”

            **We have now seen what happens when you get Chad really pissed off.**

            Magnezone then responded, “Very well then, prepare to die! Porygon 2, attack after me!” Magnezone fired off a Discharge attack, which had no effect on Stephan, but severely injured the other team members.

            Chad shouted to his team, “Kyla, Delilah, go after the other enemies. Me and Stephan will deal with the leader!”

            As the pair of Porygon 2 were about to fire their Psybeams Kyla and Delilah ran around the table and rushed them.

            Delilah dodged a Psybeam aimed at her and then used Mach Punch on the Porygon 2, who staggered back, but looked outwardly unaffected.

            Kyla ran at the Porygon 2, taking a Psybeam on her way, she then hit her foe with a Force Palm. The move paralyzed Kyla’s target, much to her satisfaction.

            **I may have called that one a Porygon Z originally. It is supposed to be another Porygon 2.**

            Chadwick charged the Magnezone and tried to hit it with a Karate Chop, but it dodged.

            Stephan then jumped onto the table and then hit Magnezone with a Mud Shot. The Doubly Super Effective move caused it to spin around through the air in shock. 

            Magnezone, realizing that his Electric Type attacks could not hurt Stephan. Rushed at him and knocked him off the table with a Tackle.

            **Stephan had quite a type advantage over Magnezone in this fight.**

            Meanwhile, the un-paralyzed Porygon 2 fired a Psybeam into Delilah point blank, the hit knocked her out and she fell to the floor.

            Chad then, seeing Delilah go down, jumped onto Magnezone and nailed him with a Karate Chop.

            Kyla finished the Paralyzed Porygon 2 with a second Force Palm, this one to its face. She then ran to the unconscious Delilah.

            Stephan got up from being knocked down and fired another Mud Shot into Magnezone, who finally fainted.

            The last Porygon 2, seeing Kyla charging it, fired a Psybeam at her, but she dodged the shot and struck her foe with a Force Palm.

            The Porygon 2 recoiled back and then used Recover to heal itself.

            Stephan ran past the table and blasted the foe with a Water Gun as Chad hurled the team’s final Blast Seed into the Porygon 2, which fainted from the explosion.

            Kyla fed Delilah a Reviver Seed as Stephan and Chad destroyed the two projector machines.

            Delilah looked happy to be alive after the vicious battle and hugged Kyla enthusiastically.

            After inspecting the scene, Stephan asked, “What do we do now? At least we won.”

            Chad replied, “We wait for this bastard to wake up and then we find out why it tried to kill us all! …Kyla, dear, maybe you should go keep watch at the buildings entrance, because of your Aura Sense. Delilah can watch the Magnezone, while Stephan and I search the area.”

            **Another swear word…still keeping a rough tally.**

            The whole team nodded and saluted each other and then, Kyla began walking upstairs. As she was almost to the top Stephan called to her, “Kyla, if you see any of the other Guild Pokémon, tell them to come downstairs.”

            Kyla shouted back, “Understood.” Then, she walked back up to the building’s front entrance.

            **Now that Magnezone has appeared, I should say that my friends who read this story, including my beta reader, really liked that character. They seemed to enjoy the idea of a character that was a guardian construct left to do its duty long after its masters were dead. You will see what I mean, if you don’t already know, next chapter.**


	16. The Truth Behind the Fall of Man

             Kyla was waiting for the other Guild members in front of the ancient building’s door. At the moment, she did not see or sense any wild Pokémon in the vicinity. She leaned back against the portion of wall to the right of the door and looked up at the clouds. Kyla slowly began to space out as she watched the clouds go by.

            **The chapter title for this chapter was inspired by the PS3 launch title: Resistance: Fall of Man. Funny enough, that is the only main installment in that series I have not finished as of now.**

            Kyla was woken up by a female voice shouting, “KYLA! Where are your teammates?”

            Kyla opened her eyes to see Chandra standing right in front of her. She was with Hans, Jacob and Alina.

            Kyla got up from the wall and responded, “They are all inside. We had to fight off some very strange Pokémon and before that some machines that shot these swarms of very painful projectiles at us! I was asked to keep a watch for you all, Shade and Rexford, or any wild Pokémon because of my Aura Sense.”

            **She would have sensed them coming if she had not fallen asleep.**

            Alina replied, “We were able to clear out some wild Pokémon across our side of the ruins. We found a whole horde of Pikachu and Raichu in a wrecked land vehicle that were not much fun for Chandra.”

            Chandra blushed and nodded sheepishly as Jacob said, “I hope we can wrap up this mission soon, I want to get back home to Bailey. I think the two of us are going to move in together soon. I am tired of hiding our love from my parents.”

            Kyla could not help but remember what had happened with her and Chadwick earlier and hoped that his family would embrace their relationship soon. Hans the interrupted her thoughts by saying, “Kyla, this is beyond awkward for me, but you should know that I am actually sorry for the time I attacked you after your first mission. Do not get me wrong, I still do not believe you should be in the Guild because you are a criminal, but I went too far. To be honest I was just planning to drag you somewhere and make you confess, but… maybe you do not have some evil plan after all.”

            **Now he admits she did not have a plan…**

            Kyla only nodded at him, folding her arms. She did not want to say anything back to her old foe even though she sensed some legitimate guilt in his aura. Chandra put her arm on Hans’ shoulder to comfort him after he finished his statement.

            Kyla then said to the other team, “We should head downstairs to meet with my teammates now.”

            As the five of them were turning to go into the building, they heard a voice saying, “Where are all of you going?”

            **There is another example of the voice from behind trope that I use quite a bit. Speaking of tropes, the title of this story was inspired by a TV Tropes page called “Humanity’s Wake.”**

            Kyla recognized the two auras of Shade and Rexford, as she and the others turned around. The two Pokémon looked quite beat up. Rexford explained, “We ran into a strange machine with what the boss calls a machine gun mounted on it, it shot us up quite badly before I destroyed it with a Flamethrower attack.”

            Shade then continued, “We also ran into some wild Pokémon, but they were not much of a challenge for us. Anyway, what have you found in this bunker?”

            Kyla told the Guild Master, “These four have just shown up, me and my team found three of those machines and destroyed them. Also, we took down a group of strange Pokémon. Their leader is a Magnezone who talked about its duty and tried to kill us multiple times. We have it unconscious in the lower level.”

            Shade excitedly responded, “let’s go then!”

            All seven of the Guild members walked downstairs to find Delilah, Chadwick and Stephan watching over Magnezone, who had just started to wake up.

            Chadwick looked over at Kyla and the reinforcements that she had brought and said, “Oh good, you all are here.” As Magnezone woke up Chadwick whirled around, grabbed it and shouted, “It’s time for you to talk, asshole! Why did you try to kill us? How was it your duty?”

            **... Another swear word…**

            Magnezone glared at Chadwick and then saw how many allies he had and sighed, “If you want to know the truth, I have been here for over two centuries. As a mechanical Pokémon I do not age.”

            Shade’s eyes grew much bigger and he ran at Magnezone and grabbed it, shouting, “If you have been alive for over two-hundred years then you must have been alive when the humans were not yet extinct. You MUST tell us all that you know about them!”

            **I think that Shade may have gotten a bit too excited in that sequence.**

            Magnezone looked directly at Shade and replied calmly, “If you all leave this bunker and do not return, than I will tell you all about how humanity destroyed itself.”

            Shade looked both disturbed and surprised and asked, “Destroyed itself?”

            **Now that I think about it, it’s a bit surprising that Shade had not uncovered how humanity was driven to extinction by that point.**

            Magnezone nodded and said, “I know all about the events leading up to the extinction of humanity and the event itself. I see you have a Lucario here, she can tell if I am lying or not. You will get all the information you want from me. Then you will all leave, deal?”

            Shade nodded his agreement and then said, “Begin now and we have a deal.”

             Chadwick looked annoyed with the situation and Kyla sensed it, she walked over to him and put one of her arms around him. He did the same to her and she sensed him calming down through his aura.

            Shade had Rexford and the two teams surround Magnezone while he produced a notebook from Team Central’s toolbox, which was usually carried by Rexford.

            Shade flipped to an empty page and then ordered Magnezone to start, Magnezone began, “The human race ran the world for over three-thousand years while Pokémon were almost entirely wild or domesticated, by the humans of course. Eventually, around three hundred years ago, the most powerful human nations built the first nuclear weapons, missiles with incredible range that could create explosions large enough to destroy entire cities. This led to the humans starting to fear their own power over both technology and nature. Fifty years after the first nuclear missiles were tested, they entered negotiations to create a global federation with the goal of ending war so the nuclear missiles would never have to be used.”

            **For my take on the Pokémon universe I decided that humans would fight each other using weapons instead of mainly having Pokémon do the fighting for them.**

            Shade then asked, “Out of curiosity where else do us Pokémon come into this, or do we?”

            Magnezone nodded, using its entire body and said, “We do actually. The humans had developed various technologies to control Pokémon. They started with devices that inhibited Pokémon’s moves so they could be used for manual labor. But then, they made a major technological breakthrough and developed Pokéballs, which they used to contain and control Pokémon completely. The Pokémon in the balls would be controlled mentally and would not need to be inhibited. Then, the humans invented the sport of Pokémon Training. They forced our kind to battle each other for their own amusement and the monetary gain of the winners. The global federation made Pokémon training its official sport and its popularity soared. Gyms and leagues popped up everywhere. The federation even started creating mechanical Pokémon such as my evolution chain and the digital Porygon series.”

            **I always assumed that Pokéballs used some minor mind control to keep the Pokémon they contained obedient to their human masters. So, I made it canon for my setting. Of course, the mind control is ineffective if you don’t have enough gym badges?**

            Kyla interrupted to ask, “You mean that the humans used us as slaves? They forced us to fight each other! That sounds, well…highly unethical, to say the least.”

            **Yeah, I have often found the idea of Pokémon training and the human-Pokémon relationship being mutually beneficial to be very dubious. Kyla was stating an opinion that I have expressed to others. However, my views have not stopped me from playing the core series games. Yeah, I know it is hypocrisy. But, they are still ultimately just video games.**

            Shade then replied, “I actually had some evidence of this before. Like the inhibitors our Guild has been repairing, which we found in some old warehouses, we found many old broken spheres with all sorts of circuits in them that I assume were Pokéballs. Now, Magnezone, how does that all relate to the end of the human’s reign over this planet?”

            Magnezone continued, “Pokémon training became controversial eventually, many humans saw it as cruel and unfair to the Pokémon and believed it also meant humans becoming unwilling to fight their own battles. About 210 years ago, by my calculations, a charismatic, but elderly man named Rudolph Stevens united the various protest movements trying to put an end to Pokémon training and the other ways humans used our kind. He formed the Pokémon Liberation Organization, a group that was determined to end what they viewed as the great sin of humanity. The protests of the P.L.O. were violently suppressed by the Global Federation, which viewed the Pokémon leagues as too important to their society to be torn down. Eventually, Rudolph Stevens and his followers focused their efforts on a medium sized island just north of this continent where they were able to seize control of the local government and outlaw Pokémon training and forced labor. That was when the Global Federation declared war on the P.L.O. and the planetary civil war began.”

            **Rudolph Stevens was originally going to be named Rudolph Lincoln. However, I changed his last name to Stevens so that the reference would become less obvious. While Abraham Lincoln is the President historically credited with freeing the slaves, Thaddeus Stevens was a major anti-slavery Republican Senator who was active during the same time period.**

            Stephan could not help but ask, “So what happened with this war, was it linked to the end of the humans?”

            **Looking back, I think that Stephan would probably have been smart enough to realize the answer already.**

            Magnezone sighed and continued, “Yes, the planetary civil war led to the extinction of the human race.”

            Shade asked, “And I assume it was linked to those ‘nuclear missiles,’ now, do tell us what led to them being fired off?”

             Magnezone continued, “The planetary civil war was a brutal conflict as the human armies fought over the fate of Pokémon. Eventually, the Global Federation’s commanders decided to prepare a massive invasion force on the northern coast of this continent. The invasion force was planned to land at the island where the P.L.O. rebels were based and arrest or kill Rudolph Stevens, they hoped that the invasion would end the war by cutting the head off of the ‘rebel snake.’ With the invasion force inbound, Stevens made his own desperate gamble, he fired most of the Island nation’s missiles, using them to destroy the Global Federation’s major cities. Megapolis, the capital city of the whole world, was the first target. The destruction of their largest population centers did not stop the now enraged Federation forces. They launched their own missiles at the cities and other population centers under the rebel’s control. Ultimately, nearly all of the nuclear missiles were fired off and most of the major cities were reduced to ruins. The war kept on, as the remnants of humanity fought on. By that time they were all so blinded by factional hatred that they never made peace. After the use of the world’s nuclear weapons killed off most of the humans, the remainder, I believe were killed off by each other, radiation or by starvation. Wild Pokémon attacks on the survivors of the nuclear devastation might have contributed to the end of humanity as well. Millions of Pokémon presumably died in the war’s apocalyptic conclusion. However, enough of us, possibly because nuclear radiation does not harm Pokémon the way it harms humans, survived. I was created by the federation to command this bunker in the base intended to protect Megapolis. I remain here because of programmed loyalty to the now extinct Federation. My programming has led me to keep the lights, drones and Porygon here running and to fight off all intruding Pokémon, the wild Pokémon who have lived in the base’s ruins have learned not to go into this bunker.”

            **That could have been the longest quote in the series… Also, I decided that in my setting Pokémon’s biology would be resistant to nuclear radiation.**   

            The Guild Pokémon all just stood there in silence. Then Shade decided to break it, saying, “Well, thank you for that information. We will collect as many artifacts from the surrounding area and then be on our way.”

            Magnezone seemed pleased, as it said, “Yes, please go, do what you will with what I have told you. I do not really care who else knows the information that I have given you.”

            The Guild Pokémon spent the next few hours collecting as many useful looking human artifacts as they could, then, as night began to fall, they returned to the Megapolis and deposited the artifacts at the Guild Headquarters, where they slept the night.

            The next morning, Kyla had woken up to find that Chadwick was gone again. Since the team toolbox was in their room, she made sure that it was ready for the trip back to Polumbos Town.

            Shade then entered the room. As Kyla turned around to face him, he said, “Well, it was good meeting all of you, but I specifically wanted to thank you for delivering the letter from Akira. I have sent a response back to her via a Guild Pellipper… that was already going to Sunflora’s office.”

            **Shade would not want to send an official Guild courier just to deliver a love letter. That would be an, admittedly small, abuse of his leadership position.**

            Shade and Kyla shook hands again and he then continued, “I want you all to spread the news about how humanity fell where and whenever possible. I feel as though the Pokémon of the world deserve to know the truth! Anyways, good luck on your future adventures.”

            The two of the saluted each other and Shade left. Kyla then went downstairs to eat breakfast with her three teammates. The other team from Polumbos had already set out for home, since Jacob had been eager to see Bailey again and complete his plans to live independently with her. 

            Partially because Stephan wanted to be with Stanford again, Kyla’s team set out from Megapolis at noon.

            The team took almost a week to return to Polumbos Town. On the way back they stopped in the prison’s guest room to rest the night.

            In the morning Akira approached Kyla, telling her, “Thank you for getting my letter to Shade. I really appreciate that. I already received response letter from him, which he sent after he obtained my letter from you.”

            **That last part should have been obvious. Sorry about that.**

            Kyla responded, “Don’t mention it. I assume that the content of the exchange is between the two of you for now?”

            Akira smiled and said, “Yes,” as she hugged Kyla.

            The two girls shared a brief embrace and then Akira awkwardly finished, “You should return to your team and get back to town now.”

            **I guess that I was really into platonic hugging when I wrote this story.**

            Kyla smiled, agreeing, and then left to join with her teammates.

            That evening the team had returned to Polumbos Town, Chadwick and Kyla were too exhausted to do anything that night so they had simply shared a kiss and then parted. Delilah went to inform mayor Armaldo about the new discovery that the Guild had made, while Stephan went to see Stanford. Kyla had moved into a larger inn room, #209. She slept the night there.

            By the time that Kyla awoke it was nearly noon. After seeing that the sun had already risen, she heard a knock at her door.

            When Kyla opened the door, she saw a smiling Chad. He was holding an envelope, which presumably had a note in it, in his right hand. He was also wearing a bright red band on his other wrist.

            “Good morning, Kyla,” Chadwick began. He then continued, “I have some news for you.”

            **All right, we are now finished with another arc. The main plot is almost here!**


	17. The Party

            Chadwick was standing in the door to Kyla’s new room and had just told her that he had some news for her. Kyla asked Chad, “Before you tell me about the news, why don’t you tell me what that red band on your wrist is?”

            Chad replied, “It’s a Power Band, Kyla. I bought it earlier today. It should enhance my physical attack power. Delilah was with me and she bought a Special Band for herself. Now about the other news, while I was out this morning I learned that there is a family moving to Riverton in a week and I have made a deal with them to obtain their house after they move out. We can hire Rhyperior’s construction company to make any modifications we might need later.”

            **And now, PMD held items make an appearance.**

            Kyla smiled and responded, “Well that news makes up for you not getting me a gift. How did you get the money to buy the house though?”

            Chad then told Kyla, “The next part of my news is that my parents have given me the money to buy the house. They seem to be accepting the idea that we are staying together and they realize that it is about time for me to get my own home.”

            Kyla just looked at Chadwick in disbelief after he finished his statement. She still sensed no dishonesty in his aura. She then quickly composed herself and replied, “I am happy that they have started to come around.”

            Chad rapidly replied, “It’s great to hear you say that… because they will be at tonight’s party.”

            **He seems to save the least pleasant parts of his current news for last. I guess that it’s the opposite of saving the best for last?**

            Kyla was shocked again and asked, “Whose party is it?”

            Chadwick answered, “Jacob, from this town’s other team, had actually stared preparing to have a new house built for him and his girlfriend Bailey long before we all left for Megapolis. The house is just big enough to support the two of them and was constructed on a small vacant lot, right next to where Bailey’s parents live, by Rhyperior’s construction company. It was finished yesterday. Jacob’s new neighbors have been gracious enough to allow him to throw a party over the whole block in order to celebrate and both the rest of his team and our whole team have been invited. And… my family has also been invited.”

            Kyla grinned and replied, “That sounds great actually. You know, I think that if we show up to a party together as a couple everyone will know about us. You will not be able to hide our love even if you want to.”

            **Kyla really want to put the idea of them hiding their love down for good.**

            Chad nodded and replied, “Whatever you say, darling. Anyway, we will go together to the party this evening, sounds good?”

            **I think that Chad did not want to discuss that idea any more either.**

            Kyla nodded yes and then replied, “The party sounds like a good way to have some fun before we go back to doing jobs. Of course, I am far more interested in seeing our new home.” Kyla then embraced Chadwick. She felt so content and loved in his arms, and she sensed how he felt the same way in hers.

            **I will admit that I’m not sure why I put that extra romantic bit in there?**

            That evening, as the young couple was on the way to the party on the north side of town, hand in hand, Chadwick asked Kyla, “Can I ask you a somewhat random question? It ties into something we have talked about before.”

            Kyla cocked her head and asked, “Ok, what is it?”

            Chad asked Kyla, “Do you still want to see you mother again? Thinking about how my parents are starting to accept the reality of our love and how much they still mean to me makes me feel sorry for you. You do not know who your father is, or what happened to your mother.”

            Kyla thought for a moment and then she responded, “Of course I miss Marina. I just doubt I will ever see her again. I hope that she is alive and I wonder why she was attacked in our shack. Maybe it was outlaws, maybe it was wild Pokémon, either way I just don’t expect to see her again, so I have been focusing on my own life, including on our relationship.”

            **And now we finally learn the name of Kyla’s mother. I will hopefully explain why I did not put it in before then later in my commentary.**

            Chadwick smiled at Kyla as she finished her statement, then he asked, “Your mother was named Marina? That sounds like a Water Type Pokémon’s name?”

            **That’s a valid point…**

            Kyla replied, “My mother was very secretive about her past and what circumstances led to my birth. When I insisted she tell me more about her earlier life, all she told me is that she was born in a village on the sea and that was why her parents named her Marina. I then heard her whisper something about me being ashamed of her if she told me more. Then she told me that she did not want to tell me anymore. After that, she insisted that I not bring it up again and that I should trust her.”

            Kyla felt an odd feeling coming off of Chadwick’s aura before he said to her, “You know, that sounds suspicious to me. I think your mom was trying to hide something from you.”

            **You think?**

            Kyla sighed and then said, “Yes, that is obvious. I would love to know what it was. However, right now, as I have said before, I have my own life to live… I see some lights ahead. That must be where the party is.”

            Kyla and Chadwick walked over to where the whole half street, with four small houses on each side, was hosting the party. The two of them dropped their gift, a box of pastries that Kyla had bought during the day, off at the correct table and then Chad led Kyla over to his where his parents were talking.

            **We will have to see how this goes…**

            Marisa and Elijah, Chad’s parents, turned to Chad and Kyla. Elijah said, “Well, it looks like you two made it to the party.”

            **I assume that I wanted my readers to remember the names of Chadwick’s parents, so I put them in that paragraph.**

            Marisa then added, “We were very relieved that you all got back from your expedition safely. Also, we were hoping to give you something, even though this is not your party.”

            Marisa pulled out a disc-shaped object from a pouch and said, “This is a TM for the move Brick Break. If I am correct, anyone in your team can use it. Keep it around, even if you do not plan to use it immediately.”

            **That is the main time in the series where a TM shows up and ends up getting used. It’s funny, because I don’t have any enemies use the moves that Brick Break is supposed to penetrate, as well as injuring the target.**

            Chad took the TM and told his parents, “Thank you both very much. I will get this into our team’s storage tomorrow morning.”

            **I will say that there is indeed a Kangaskhan Storage facility in Polumbos Town. That was another shout-out to the original games.**

            Elijah then said, “We are actually sorry about the night we first met you, Kyla. I think we acted in a bigoted way and we are sorry that we did not trust you, or our own son’s judgment.”

            Kyla sensed that Chad’s parents were at least partially sorry about the way they had previously treated her, she had a feeling that they were trying to smooth over what had happened when she first met them. She quickly decided that it would be best for her to be polite and said, “Well, we really appreciate this gift. Also, thank you for helping us to pay for our new house.”

            **Kyla’s willingness to forgive comes into play here.**

            Marisa and Elijah nodded and each of them shook hands with Kyla, then Kyla noticed Delilah, who was talking to Alina and Sabrina. She said, “I see some of my friends over there, I am going to go chat with them, see you later, honey.” Kyla kissed Chadwick’s cheek and then walked over to the girls.

\---

            Chad told his parents, “I am going to go see if our teammate Stephan is here. Thank you for everything, mom and dad. I will see you two later.”

            Chad hugged both of his parents and, as they went off to try and locate Bailey’s parents, he went to try and find Stephan. When Chad saw Stephan at the opposite edge of the party with a Grovyle who he assumed was Stanford, he started walking over to them when he heard a voice saying, “Hello, Chadwick I believe it was.”

            Chadwick rapidly turned around and looked downwards to face Hans, who he asked, “What do you want?”

            **Obviously, Chad still dislikes Hans. Can you blame him, though? Hans did consistently antagonize, and even assault, Chad’s girlfriend and teammate.**

            Hans replied, “Do relax, I know that you dislike me because of my antagonism towards Kyla. However, need I remind you that you were once antagonistic towards Kyla yourself, before you mysteriously fell for her.”

            **And Hans seems aware of why Chad dislikes him. Of course, he does not see how anyone could love Kyla.**

            Chadwick glared at Hans, wondering how he had learned about the way that Chad had used to treat Kyla. He then replied, “I fell for her because of her multitude of good qualities. You do not understand her at all. She has been a wonderful companion for me and the others.”

            **I now feel that I could have written that paragraph better. Not sure how, I just think that could have been a lot less “clunky” and more effectively expressive. I did my best to fix it up when looking it over for this release.**

            Hans sighed and responded, “I do not want to argue about the morality of your girlfriend. However, I do have a question I would like to ask you.”

            Chad replied, “What is your question then? Please make it quick, I have a friend I need to see.”

            Hans then asked Chadwick, “What I want to know, is actually sort of related to Kyla, but it’s not about why you like her or anything like that. What I want to know is how you tell someone you love that you have feelings for them. You managed to tell Kyla how you felt, how did you pull that off?”

            Chadwick looked, somewhat in shock, down at Hans and said, “I am personally surprised that someone like you could love anybody. Who exactly is your sweetheart?”

            **Chad dislikes Hand even more than I remembered…**

            Hans glared directly into Chadwick’s eyes and, as calmly as he could, replied, “Just because I hate criminals does not mean that I am totally filled with hate. Anyways, the girl is Chandra, my teammate. I have admired her for quite some time by now.”

            As Chadwick was pondering what to say to Hans, Stephan and Stanford walked up to where they were. Stephan asked Hans, “What do you want? Don’t think for a second that I have forgiven you for the way you treated Kyla.”

            **Stephan’s intense platonic devotion to Kyla comes out again here.**

            Stanford asked Stephan, “Is that the guy?”

            **That line cracks me up a little bit every time I read it. It looks like Stephan was telling other Pokémon how bad Hans was in his eyes. Or, at least he told Stanford.**

            Stephan nodded and Hans replied, “I apologized! Well at least I apologized for the time that I attacked her, ok!” As Stephan was about to reply, Hans told Chad, “Thank you for listening, maybe we can finish this conversation later.” He then walked away.

            **Hans, smartly, does not want to get into a shouting match with Stephan.**

            Stephan called out, “And good riddance!” as Hans left to find Jacob and Bailey. He then asked Chad, “What did he want anyway?”

            **Notice how the persecution has shifted ironically from Kyla to Hans after the events of around ten chapters earlier.**

            Chadwick replied, “Do not worry about it. I do not like him either. Honestly, I do not think I will ever trust him after the way he mistreated Kyla. On the other hand, he will probably never trust her because of her past.”

            Stephan shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, anyway, this is my boyfriend Stanford. I brought him over here with me for the party, in part to have him meet all of my teammates and the members of the other team. That is minus Hans, of course, I have told Stanford all about the way he has treated Kyla. While we are on that subject, where is Kyla?”

            **Stephan did indeed tell his boyfriend about the Hans-Kyla feud. It does not seem surprising that he did so, at least not to me.**

            As Stanford and Chadwick shook hands, Chadwick replied, “She is with some of the other girls. I actually wanted to go talk to you two, when I was confronted by Hans.”

            Stanford then said, “Well it is great to meet you, Chadwick. I was just telling Stephan that one-day I want to see Stephan’s hometown of Riverton. I don’t intend to meet his ‘family,’ however. I want to see the town and relax on the beach with Stephan. As you may know, we have both been rejected by our families, but have been able to keep living as who we are. The two of us have bonded over that fact.”

            **That might be an example of my characters “stating their emotional states.” My beta reader told me that was an issue with my work later on, after this story was fully posted.**

            Chadwick smiled politely at the two of them and said, “Well, I am sure that we can arrange that soon. Why don’t I take you two over to see Kyla and Delilah?”

            Chadwick took Stephan and Stanford over to see Kyla and Delilah. Stephan went over to talk to his old friends Alina and Sabrina while Stanford introduced himself to Stephan’s female teammates.

            The party went on late into the night. After most of the guests had returned, home Kyla and Chadwick headed back out into the forest clearing where they had first spent a night together.

            **I probably should not have made so many references of that particular kind in this story. That being for reasons I stated in at least one earlier chapter’s commentary. I like to think that I cut them down in my later installments of this series.**

            The team spent much of the next week off of missions after the success of their expedition to Megapolis. At the end of the week, the family consisting of a pair of Prinplup and their son, a Piplup, moved out of Polumbos Town and over to Riverton. Chadwick completed the transaction to buy the house and he and Kyla moved in the next day.

            The house was only one story tall and had two bedrooms, one of which was much larger than the other. The main room had a small kitchen and a living area with a table and a red, yellow and blue rug. It had blue paint on the outside with a brown front doorframe. One of the house’s nicest features was its large backyard with a small pond and a stone path leading to the back door.

            Chadwick and Kyla decided to use the second bedroom as a storage room since they had no children. The Primary bedroom had a window in the back, which greatly pleased Kyla, seeing as though she could look out through it to watch the sunrise. The main room’s kitchen they stocked with food. They planted some berries in the backyard and Chad said goodbye to his parents. Kyla said a surprisingly tearful goodbye to Chansey and removed her money pouch from room 209. She then gave Chansey her final payment for using the room and the key back. Kyla then moved in to her new home with Chad.

            **There was another mention of Kyla’s morning ritual. I did not want my readers to forget about that.**

            After Kyla and Chadwick moved into their new house, the team spent the next month continuing to do minor jobs in the Polumbos area.

            One morning, Kyla had finished watching the sunrise while Chad had gone out early to get some food from the stores and she heard a knock at the door. Using her Aura Sense, she recognized her friend and teammate Delilah. She walked to the door, opened it and saw Delilah, as she had predicted.

            **In this setting, Aura Sense allows the user to recognize the auras of individual Pokémon they have met before while using their Aura Sense.**

            Delilah told Kyla, “Sorry to bother you this early in the morning, Kyla. Our team has been summoned to the Guild office. There has been some trouble in Riverton and the other team is at the outpost up north.”

            Kyla nodded and replied, “As soon as Chad gets back, we will head over.”

            When Chadwick returned, the three of them walked from the house, near the center of Polumbos Town, to the Guild office where Stephan already was waiting for them.

            Sunflora greeted the team and they all sat down, as she began briefing them on the situation. She began, “Welcome everyone. The reason that I have called you all here is that Bibarel, the mayor of Riverton, has called for Guild reinforcements. She has received notice that a group of outlaws, who we have not encountered before, are threatening to poison the river upstream from Riverton unless they are paid a weekly tribute.”

            Stephan seemed quite upset by this news and angrily said, “Well, I am not about to let anybody mess with my hometown!”

            **Stephan still views Riverton as his home, even though his family rejected him.**

            Sunflora continued, “We are sending down your team to help locate and apprehend these criminals before they can carry out their plan.”

            The whole team nodded in agreement and Stephan said, ““I think that Stanford will probably want to come with us so he can see the place. Still, we should leave immediately!”  

            Sunflora replied, “That would be for the best. Head out to Riverton and meet with Mayor Bibarel as soon as you can!”

            The team quickly departed from the office, everyone got packed for the new mission and Stephan collected Stanford. The five of them set out of the south gate to Polumbos Town and began walking down the road. Stanford seemed quite excited at the prospect of finally going to visit Riverton.

            The group arrived in Riverton late that evening. The next day the team entered mayor Bibarel’s office with Stanford in tow. She asked them to sit down so she could explain her town’s situation.

            **Now, we are halfway finished in terms of chapters. In the next two chapters, I will have some important, and admittedly unpleasant, development insights to share.**


	18. Going Upriver

            The team, along with Stanford, was sitting in the Mayor’s office of Riverton. The room had a red carpet on the floor. The, mayor, a female Bibarel, was sitting behind a wooden desk. There was a large window behind her, which was letting the morning sunlight into the office.

            Bibarel looked over her guests and asked, “So, you are the Guild reinforcements?”

            Everyone except Stanford nodded yes to her question. Stephan explained, “Stanford is just visiting with us, he will be in town while we are.”

            Bibarel then continued, “That should be fine. Right now, we need to discuss the situation at hand. A couple of days ago, we received a letter, delivered to my office’s mailbox during the night. The letter did not have a name attached, but it stated that the sender was demanding 2,000 poké a week starting a week from when the letter was delivered. This money is to be sent on a barge and dropped off at a certain point on the riverbank. If we do not pay this ‘protection’ money, then they will begin poisoning the river. We have no idea where these outlaws are based, or who they are. All we have is the spot where we are supposed to send the payments. It is presumed that they will pick up the money from where we leave it.”

            After hearing Bibarel’s information, Chadwick replied, “Ok, so we should go to the place that they have specified and see if we can find any tracks.”

            Kyla then chimed in, saying, “Hopefully, when we get close enough I can sense those Pokémon’s auras and we can track them down.”

            **That’s why Lucario are useful to have around in this setting. I did not necessarily make Kyla a Riolu/Lucario because of the Aura Sense, however. I thought that that evolution chain was well known and liked and that female members of those species are not well-represented, possibly due to the heavily male-favoring gender ratio that they have in the games. Also, I wanted a humanoid character for my first story, maybe I thought they would be easier to relate too. Interestingly enough, both of my female protagonists in the ROC fanfic series are canine Pokémon. I am very attached to my dog, who is a girl, so maybe that is part of why? Yeah, I know it sounds a bit weird.**

            Bibarel replied to Kyla and Chadwick by saying, “Why don’t you do that, we will get you all on a barge, which will drop you off at the small riverbank clearing where the money is supposed to be dropped. Then, you can track down the outlaws from there. If you can find these criminals, then do your best to apprehend them. And, of course, make sure that they cannot poison the river. Whoever these Pokémon are I can only assume that they are Poison Types.

            **Poison types using poison…makes sense. Also, the insight I shared after the last paragraph is not the biggest thing I am planning on revealing this chapter’s commentary.**

            The whole team nodded and Bibarel finished, “I will get you a permit for one of our smaller rafts, can any of you pilot one?”

            Stephan replied, “I can, I grew up here and my father taught me when I was younger. I still remember how and it should be much easier with my new arms then it was when I first learned.”

            **One of the many things that arms are good for.**

            Bibarel wrote the team the permit and they headed to the docks, where they obtained one of the town’s rafts. Stanford went with them, so that they would have someone to watch the barge while they were tracking the outlaws.

            Stephan used a pole attached to the side of the boat to steer it upriver. It took them a couple of hours to reach the small clearing that Bibarel had mentioned. They had been given a map of the river area by Bibarel, which had a red X marked on the clearing. When they successfully landed the raft at the river’s north bank, they left Stanford to guard it.

            Stephan gave Stanford a goodbye hug and then said, “Stay with the barge and be careful. We will hopefully be back soon. Ideally with some prisoners to take back home to Riverton.”

            Stanford nodded and then saluted the team, saying, “You all can count on me.”

            Kyla and her teammates got off of the raft and walked into the clearing. There were trees with reddish leaves surrounding it and a path leading deep into the forest near the river’s north bank.

            As the team started walking down the path through the forest. Delilah asked Kyla, “Kyla, why don’t you try using your Aura Sense to locate whoever has been threatening to poison the river?”

            **That was what they were planning to do, anyway.**

            Kyla sent out her Aura Sense to scan the area, she picked up some auras that she assumed were groups of wild Pokémon. She then continued to stretch out her senses. Kyla mentioned, “I cannot sense the Pokémon in Riverton from here, we must be pretty far away from town.”

            **I never did list an exact range for Aura Sense. Maybe it varies between Lucario? Also, more experienced Aura Sense users probably can use the power at longer ranges.**

            Chadwick suggested, “Kyla, why don’t you focus your senses down the path and see who you can find?”

            Kyla nodded and then continued to focus. She soon located a group of Pokémon who she assumed were wild. Then she focused further down the path and was able to locate a group of four auras, all of which seemed panicked. Kyla told her team, “I think I might have found our culprits, let’s head further down the path.”

            The team started quickly heading down the forest path until they reached a small stream, which they assumed was a tributary of the main river. They followed the stream until they reached a marshy area where there was a group of 5 wild Psyduck.

            The Psyduck turned to the team and immediately began to attack them. As the Psyduck charged towards the team, Stephan fired a Mud Bomb at them. The Mud Bomb injured three of the Psyduck, but they kept coming closer.

            Delilah rushed one of the Psyduck, hitting him with a Mach Punch. Then, Kyla moved in on another one with her Force Palm. 

            Chadwick moved in on of the Psyduck who had been injured by Stephan’s Mud Bomb and took him down with a quick Seismic Toss into the ground.

            Then, the Psyduck attacked. One of them used Confusion on Kyla, but she easily withstood the attack.

            Delilah took a pair of Water Gun attacks, which heavily injured her.

            Lastly, Chadwick got hit by a Confusion move which, despite being Super Effective, was not able to severely inure him.

            Kyla dropped the Psyduck that she was fighting with a Force Palm to the face. Then, Delilah got up close and personal with the one she had previously injured and brought him down by tearing into him with a succession of Fury Swipes.

            Stephan used a Mud Shot to down another injured Psyduck and then Chadwick finished of the last of them with a Karate Chop.

            As the team continued to advance down the stream, Chadwick mentioned, “We are getting to the point where most wild Pokémon do not pose that much of a challenge to us, even in groups that outnumber us.”

            **I added in that line of dialogue to explain why that fight was so easy for the team.**

            As Kyla was nodding in agreement, she sent out her Aura Sense again. Then she discovered something and told her teammates, “I think that one of the four Pokémon up ahead has left and retreated deeper into the forest. We should try to reach the remaining three before they decide to retreat, in case these are our targets.”

            The whole team decided to pick up the pace as they rushed ahead. In around a half hour they reached what appeared to be a camp next to the stream. With three small huts and one larger one. There was another path heading south from the camp, possibly to the main river.

            A pair of Gulpin emerged from the small huts as their leader, a Swalot, emerged from the large one.

            The Swalot pointed at the team and his two minions rushed forward without any of them saying a word.

            Stephan said, “I have a strong feeling that these are the guys we’re looking for,” as the two Gulpin continued to advance. 

            **They are Poison Type, after all.**    

            Swalot responded by hitting the entire the team with a Sludge Bomb move. As everyone else was reeling from the hit, Kyla realized that she was completely unaffected. Chadwick, on the other hand, looked sort of ill and Kyla realized that he had been poisoned by the move.

            **Steel Type Pokémon are immune to Poison Type moves, and Kyla is no exception. I did not use the “It had little effect” system from the old PMD games. I just adopted the core games’ immunities for this series.**

            The pair of Gulpin fired Sludge attacks at Delilah and Stephan; Stephan was hit, but seemed barely injured. Delilah however got blasted back by the attack and got poisoned.

            Stephan fired a Mud Bomb at the pair of Gulpin, which detonated in the middle of them and got mud in their eyes.

            As that was happening, Chad rushed the leader and slammed him into the ground with a Seismic Toss. For once, Chad’s attack did not drop the foe, the Swalot was still conscious.

            Kyla and Delilah moved in on the injured Gulpin. Delilah missed her target with an Ember, as Kyla hit her foe with a Metal Claw, which cut into his body.

            The Gulpin fighting Kyla hit her with a Pound, which barely dented her as Delilah took another Sludge. Kyla saw how the poison was hurting her allies other than Stephan, as Swalot backed up and then hit Chadwick with another Sludge. His Sludge attakc was visibly stronger than his minions’.

            Stephan rushed ahead and hit the Swalot with a Mud Shot, weakening him severely. Then, Chad missed the Swalot with a Karate Chop.    

            Delilah managed to land an Ember on her target, finishing him. While Kyla attacked again with Metal Claw. Slicing into him, she saw her foe weakening.

            Swalot decided to try and retreat. Before he did so, however, he launched another Sludge Bomb at Chad and Stephan. Chadwick fainted from his poison after the attack connected.

            Kyla looked over at her fallen lover as another Pound struck her for minimal injury. She quickly dispatched the Gulpin with a final Metal Claw and charged after the Swalot. Before she could reach him, Stephan took the fleeing enemy down with another Mud Shot. 

            Delilah, was still suffering from Poison. Stephan and Kyla, having vanquished all of their foes were about to retrieve the toolbox from the unconscious Chadwick, when Kyla realized something. She shouted, “The fourth aura has left the area, I cannot sense it anymore.”

            Delilah ate a Heal Seed, after retrieving the toolbox from the downed Chadwick. She pointed out, “We should bring Chad back up and then head back to Riverton with our prisoners.”

            Kyla gently fed Chadwick a Reviver Seed and he was able to stand back up and say, “Ok, it looks like you three won without me…. Great!”

            **I should have mentioned this a lot earlier, but I modified the Reviver Seeds in this setting, requiring them to be fed to the unconscious Pokémon in order to take effect. This was done in order to keep my stories from feeling too low-stakes for the main characters. If everyone fainted, no one could feed anyone a reviver seed.**

            Chad gave Kyla a kiss for bringing him back up and then picked up the Swalot. Stephan picked up a Gulpin and Kyla picked up the other. Then, as they were leaving the camp, Kyla sensed another aura incoming, she shouted, “Someone is coming from the direction we came from.”

            The team prepared for combat as a Grovyle emerged from the woods. Stephan shouted out, “Do not attack guys! It’s Stanford. Honey, why are you here?”

            Stanford replied, “I was worried about you all…. But, It looks like you all have successfully stopped the criminals. Lets’ get back to the raft. Hopefully my leaving it unguarded will not cause it to get stolen.”

            The team and Stanford brought the three prisoners to the raft, which was still where they left it. Then, they loaded the captive outlaws onto the raft and headed back to Riverton.

            As they were on the way back to Riverton, Kyla said, “I am wondering two things: One, who was the fourth aura? Two, was there any other motivation behind this plan other than protection money?”

            **Both very good questions…**

             Chadwick responded, “Once we get back to Riverton, we will figure this all out. We will interrogate these criminals.”

            The raft continued on its way to Riverton with the team, Stanford and the knocked out outlaws on board.

            **Ok, it’s time for another major look into the development of this story. What I am about to talk about is probably the biggest alteration I had to make to the story. Also, unlike other changes in my plans, this one was made after I had written down the offending content. When my beta reader read chapters 18 and 19 in their original forms, he was quite disturbed by a major plot point that I had written in. Originally, Stephan’s mother Marsha was to have been the fourth aura Kyla sensed. Marsha would have circled back around and attacked the team and nearly defeated them, after they had been greatly weakened in their fight with the Poison Type trio. Then, Stanford would have come in and saved the day by defeating Marsha with a Leaf Blade critical hit. Marsha would have relished the chance to fight and potentially kill Stephan during their battle. After being defeated, Marsha would have been brought back to Riverton as a prisoner along with the three outlaws. More on that aborted plot line next chapter.**


	19. Antagonists Revealed

            The team, along with Stanford, returned to the Riverton docks with their three prisoners. They then carried their prisoners off the raft and went to see Mayor Bibarel.

            **Like Mayor Armaldo, Bibarel is one of the few non-legendary characters in the series to not get a name.**

            Bibarel met the team outside the city hall, where she saw the unconscious prisoners. Bibarel said, “I am both pleased and relieved to see that you all have captured those outlaws.”

            Delilah responded, “They put up quite a fight, but we brought them down. We believe that there was someone else with them who fled before we arrived.”

            As other three Pokémon nodded, Bibarel replied, “You should get them to the town’s prison. We will question them when they wake up.”

            Bibarel had one of her assistants lead the team to Riverton’s small prison. It was only in town because Riverton was effectively two days from Sheriff Theodore’s warehouse prison. There were only four cells in the brown brick building, all of which were currently empty. The two Gulpin were restrained with inhibitor rings and placed in a cell, while Swalot was restrained with inhibitor cuffs and taken to the interrogation room.

            It did not take Swalot long to wake up after he had been placed on a large wooden chair in the back room. He was across the table from the team. Stanford had been asked to keep watch outside the door. When Swalot woke up, he saw the stern faces of the four teammates and then realized where he was.

            **Continuing from where I left off at the end of the last chapter, Marsha was originally going to be in Swalot’s position. The team would interrogate her instead of Swalot, since she had been about to win the fight when Stanford dropped her, she would ask what happened. Stephan’s response was to be “My boyfriend happened,” since Stanford had finished her off from behind.**

            Chadwick said, “You have quite a lot of explaining to do. Who are you and who was the fourth Pokémon with your group who fled?”

            Swalot thought for a moment and then said, “I see that you all are in a superior position, for the moment. I will tell you what you want to know, in exchange for my life. By that I mean that as long as Mayor Bibarel promises not to execute me for what I have done, then I will tell you the truth.”

            **Marsha was too have asked for a similar deal.**

            The team members thought for a moment and then Kyla said, “If we give you our word that we will do what we can to prevent your execution, than you will tell us what is really going on.”

            Swalot nodded in agreement as Stephan asked, “Kyla, are you sure about this?”

            Kyla whispered to Stephan, as she felt the hatred for the one who threatened his hometown in his aura, “We need to know what is going on as fast as possible and he is willing to talk.”

            Stephan nodded, clearly annoyed by the whole thing, as Chadwick said to Swalot, “Ok, we give you our collective word. Now tell us what is going on!”

            Swalot began, “It all started a few months ago when me and my Gulpin were approached by a Walrein and a pair of Sealeo. The Walrein referred to himself as an ‘Admiral’ and said that he was on ‘official business’ to make a deal with us. He mentioned wanting to ‘incorporate’ Riverton into something much larger and implied very strongly that he had a large number of allies not far away. I confronted him on this asking if he was planning to invade Riverton and he simply replied that he was. He then asked me if I had any reason to dislike the Pokémon of Riverton and I said that I had to reason to like or dislike them. Also, I said that I would be willing to help whatever Walrein was planning… for the right price.”

            **In my original plan, Marsha was to have walked in on those negotiations, gotten captured by the outlaws and the Walrein’s unit and then learned what they were planning. She would have agreed to help them capture Riverton as an inside agent, in exchange for becoming the governor of occupied Riverton. The element that my beta reader found problematic was that her other condition was to have Stephan executed by the new rulers. The disturbing Mother-Son conflict, coupled with my admitted plan to have Stephan personally kill a freed Marsha in what I believe ended up being chapter 30-ish, caused him to insist on a severe modification of chapters 18 and 19.** **I agreed to the modifications and they were completed before the story was posted.**

            Stephan slapped Swalot in the face after hearing that and shouted, “Get to the point already!”

            Kyla could feel the anger in both Swalot and Stephan’s auras as she calmly told Swalot, “You still need to finish.”

            Swalot was enraged but in control of himself and continued, “After I explained my position to the Walrein, he seemed agreeable, he said that he would gladly pay me and my goons for our services. He also told me that if I helped his society take over Riverton then they would ensure that they would make me the governor of the town under their control.”

            **I still put the part of the deal where the Pokémon being interrogated was promised control over Riverton in the story.**

            Kyla and her whole team recoiled at what Swalot had said. Stephan had to leave the room. Chad grabbed Swalot by the neck and said to him, with the two of them face to face, “So, what have you done to help these bastards!”

            **Another swear word… As should be obvious, also, I edited this chapter to change Marsha’s words to Swalot’s and remove what did not make sense in the new context.**

            Swalot stayed remarkably calm and said, ”I gave Admiral Walrein all of the information on Riverton that I could and I was told to return to camp and wait and to not disclose our deal to anyone other than my followers, under penalty of death. Every week I would go to the forest near my camp and meet with Walrein where we would talk about what he called the ‘Imperium.’ We would make plans for the time when the threat was to be called in to secure the payments from the town. The idea was to weaken Riverton economically before the invasion, which I was never given a timeframe for. My gang and me were supposed to capture anyone sent to stop us who found us for Walrein to retrieve. However, you defeated us.”

            **The Imperium, the primary antagonists of this story, was originally called the Legion. That was changed to make it so that the Legion was only their military arm. For a while, I called them the Society, but that sounded even more generic. If I remember correctly, their full name is The Imperium of Pokémon. A later chapter should confirm if that is correct.**

            Then, Kyla asked, “Where is this ‘Imperium’ based? Where can we find them?”

            Swalot laughed and said, “I have no idea where they are headquartered, what I do know is that they have taken over Eastharbor Town on the coast. They have held that place for at least two years now, to my knowledge. That seems to be where Walrein was coming from.”

            Chadwick then said, “I heard from my folks that Eastharbor Town stopped trading with the Alliance Territory and another village on the south bank of the river around two years ago. That seems to explain why.”

            Swalot nodded and added, “From what I can tell, the Imperium has had quite a bit of trouble securing that area fully. Walrein mentioned in one of his messages that they only recently discovered Riverton and are planning their attack. At this point, I think I have fulfilled my end of our arrangement. Do what you will with what I have told you. Personally, I do not believe this will change much. The Imperium will capture Riverton and I will get my end of their deal with them, or at least get freed from this prison. I am willing to wait.”

            **Swalot only talked because he falsely believed that his talking would not stop the Imperium from taking over Riverton.**

            Kyla gave Swalot a hateful glare and said, “You are lucky that we gave our word.”

            After taking Swalot to a cell and leaving the prison, Chadwick told his team as they were on the way to see Mayor Bibarel again, “If this so-called Imperium is really a larger nation of Pokémon than the Alliance. Then, I think we will need to send for help from the Guild HQ. For now, I think we need to return to Polumbos Town and have Sunflora get a message via Pellipper to Guild Master Shade as soon as practical!”

            Kyla, Stanford, Stephan and Delilah all nodded their agreement.

            After conversing with Mayor Bibarel, who reluctantly agreed to keep Swalot alive. She was told what Swalot had told the team and then, after resting the night, the five of them returned to Polumbos Town the next day.

            They met with Sunflora the next morning. After explaining the situation to her, she sent a letter to Shade at Guild HQ with the Pellipper delivering the letter being told that it was a high priority message.

            In three days an exhausted Pellipper delivered a letter from Shade saying that he was on his way, with Rexford, to Polumbos Town. The letter said to organize a meeting to be held in the town hall six days from when Sunflora received his letter.

            **This part of the chapter was barely altered, only the first half had to have “surgery” performed on it. Also, Stephan’s father was never planned to be guilty of helping Marsha betray Riverton. He would have been blissfully unaware of his mate’s dealings until her capture.**

            Six days later, in the Polumbos town hall’s first floor, both teams from the alliance territory, Mayor Armaldo, his assistant Jonathan, Mother Blissey, Sabrina and Deputy Akira were waiting for the arrival of Shade and Rexford. They had, according to a recent letter, met up with Theodore at the prison and were on their way.  

            All of the chairs on the first floor had been moved to the outer rim of the room. Kyla and her team were standing near the front door with Akira. Kyla noticed that Jacob had evolved into a Venusaur and that Chandra was now a Feraligatr. Then, Akira quietly asked Kyla, “Since you know about me and Shade’s past together, I think it’s safe for me to ask you, how do you think he will react to seeing me again?”

            Kyla whispered back, “I saw a sketch of you in his office. I do not know what was in his return letter, but I think he is not by any means over you.”

            Akira seemed very happy to hear that. Kyla could tell so from both her aura and her smile.

            **I tried to use Kyla’s Aura Sense in non-action related ways as well from time to time.**

              Then, the door to the town hall opened and Theodore stepped inside. Shade and Rexford followed him. Theodore took his place next to Mayor Armaldo and Jonathan as Shade and Akira locked eyes. Shade walked over to stand next to Akira, the two of them smiling at each other, but clearly restrained by decorum. Kyla could easily sense the tension in both of their auras.    

            As Rexford walked over to a smiling Delilah and took his place next to her, Armaldo spoke, as Jonathan began taking notes, “Thank you all for coming. The reason you all have been called here is because the alliance is facing a mysterious threat from a society calling itself the Imperium. We know that our former trading partner on the coast, Eastharbor town, is under their control and that they have expansionistic aims. However, we have no idea where they are actually based or how much territory and how many Pokémon are under their rule or who is their ultimate leader.”

            Armaldo, being relatively old, took a moment to rest from his speech as Theodore said, “We clearly need more intelligence on this Imperium. As the Sherriff of the Alliance Territory I have the vested authority to organize our defenses and to martial the local Pokémon into a militia. However, I would very much like to know what we are facing. Still, I will assure all of you that I will not simply surrender to these foes, no matter how overwhelming their numbers are.”

            **Theodore is not someone that you mess with easily…**

            Armaldo had been whispering something with Mother Blissey during the time Theodore was speaking. After Theodore was finished he said, “Yes, the Sherriff is right. We need more intelligence than our current captives in Riverton can give us.”

            Shade raised a hand and said, “I do not claim to know much on the subject, I have not yet encountered this ‘Imperium’ myself and neither have any of my subordinates in the Guild up until now. However, I do know from my research on humans that the word Imperium is a modification of the word empire, which was an ancient human word for a sovereign territory consisting of many nations, run under one government. I believe that if this Imperium is anything like the ancient empires, it will have a single absolute leader, an Emperor.”

            Rexford then asked his boss, “Like the Pokémon Empoleon?”

            **That was obviously supposed to be funny…**

            Shade face-palmed and replied, “No, not necessarily Rexford.”

            **I do love me some face-palming!**

            Rexford looked sheepish and did not say anything else as Kyla remembered that Shade had hired him as a combat specialist, not for any other reason.

            **So, Rexford is the brawn, not the brains. Also, I got the name Rexford from both a minor Villain in the video game Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which I used to own on my PS4, and a real person who came up in a college class I was taking around the time of original writing of this story.**

            Then Shade continued, “Anyways, I do have a proposal. Under the auspices of the Guild, I will organize a two-part expedition to head upriver to Eastharbor’s vicinity and attempt to gather intelligence on the Imperium. If necessary we will endeavor to capture one or more important members of their occupation force. At minimum, we will try to scout out the area without bringing the enemy’s full force down on us.”

            **Random note, I mainly play single-player action adventure games, RPGs and shooters on my Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. I only use my DS and my 3DS XL to play Pokémon games. Since I wrote this story, I have also obtained a Nintendo Switch, which has expanded by Nintendo gaming horizons a bit. I have been trying to “main” Lucario in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate recently.**

            Armaldo asked, “Who would be part of this expedition?”

            Shade thought for a moment and said, “One of the two groups would consist of the first team from Polumbos, Hans, Alina, Jacob and Chandra. I would go with them as well.”

            Then Shade asked Theodore, “I know from experience that Akira is pretty skilled at stealth. Could we ‘borrow’ her for this mission? I would order Rexford to assist you here while Akira is with us.”

            **Obviously, he wants to be close to his old flame again.**

            Theodore replied, “If you believe that her assistance will help on your mission then yes you may ‘borrow’ her. Your associate Rexford will help me to organize the militia in all three parts of the alliance, especially Riverton.”

            Shade replied, “Thank you very much, Sherriff, I know that Rexford will be quite a help to you.”

            Armaldo then spoke up, saying, “I think I will send a message to the town on the south bank of the river to the east of here. It will explain the situation to them and ask them to join the alliance for mutual support, at least for the duration of the conflict with this Imperium.”

            Everyone agreed that that was reasonable as Shade then concluded, “To finish my proposal for the expedition: both groups would spend the first few days on a pair of large rafts, which I assume that Mayor Bibarel can supply us with. Since Eastharbor is at least a week away from Riverton, by foot, the rafts will make things easier. Then my team will hug the coastline and try to reach Eastharbor’s outskirts undetected by the Imperium and see what scouting we can do.”

            Akira asked Shade, “What will I do?”

            Shade quickly responded, “You will go with Kyla, Stephan, Delilah and Chadwick into the north bank’s forests. You will also try to reach Eastharbor undetected and see what you can do to gather intelligence and, if possible, capture some of their officers for later interrogation.”

            Shade then explained, “We will go in two groups because that way if, Arceus forbid, one group is all wiped out or captured, then the other can still hopefully return safely. This whole thing is a risk, but I think it’s the best shot that we have right now.”

            Armaldo then said, “I approve of you plan, Guild Master Shade, I will have my message sent out today to the aforementioned town. Sherriff, initiate the alliance’s mutual defense clause and assemble a militia. Jonathan, find someone who can make us battle flags for the militia. This will be the first time we will have activated them on this scale, seeing as though this Imperium might be an existential threat to the alliance’s freedom.”

            **It is somewhat interesting that the introduction to the main antagonists in this story is not based on a direct encounter with them.**

            Jonathan saluted the mayor and then left while Theodore and Rexford left to begin organizing a militia. Then Mother Blissey said, “I will organize prayers at the church starting tomorrow, may Arceus be with us.”

            **That sounds slightly like “May the Force be with you.” Then again, this story parallels the original Star Wars Trilogy in a few ways. The main one I will mention now is the conflict between an Alliance and an Empire.**

            Shade dismissed both of the Guild teams, however, he ordered them to meet with him at the south gate of Polumbos Town tomorrow morning. As Kyla and her team left, following the other team out of the town hall, she looked back and noticed Akira and Shade embracing and sharing a kiss.

            **That concludes that chapter. Thankfully, my friendship with my beta reader was not ruined by what we now call the “Marsha Incident.” He called her Miss Swampert a few times, actually. Anyway, yet another big “what could have been,” one that was never written in its case, will be discussed next chapter.**


	20. The Scouting Expedition

            The next morning, Kyla’s team, Hans’ team, Shade and Akira met up at the south gate of Polumbos Town. As Kyla and her team had been walking through town they had seen the local Pokémon hard at work, already beginning to organize into a militia. Shade and Akira had arrived together and Kyla sensed a contentedness in both of their auras similar to what she had recognized in Chadwick’s aura after their nights together.

            **I like to think that that was a creative way of making a type of reference that I wished I had made less often before.**

            With the teams assembled Shade said, “Alright everyone, Rexford and Theodore have already departed for Riverton and a message has been sent to the outpost that they need to prepare for a large-scale conflict as well. We will set out now for Riverton. Once there, we will acquire the rafts for the scouting expedition. Tomorrow, we will set off on the rafts and try to reach the outskirts of Eastharbor town as planned.”

            Everyone agreed to Shade’s plan and the expedition set off for Riverton. That evening, they arrived in the town and they all spent the night at the local inn. There stays were free due to the importance of their mission.

            The next morning, the two groups found that Theodore and Rexford had already obtained two barges for them to pilot down the river. Stephan was assigned to pilot the barge carrying his team and Akira. Chandra, who had also grown up in Riverton, was assigned to pilot the barge carrying her team and Shade.

            The two barges set off that day at noon and they spent the next three days going upriver. They passed some trade barges heading to Riverton, but did not see any barges or Pokémon that looked like they could be linked to the Imperium. After they passed the small town on the south bank they found a place to land the barges on the north bank. That area was a small beach, which was thankfully devoid of wild Pokémon.

            Shade addressed the expedition force once they secured the barges on the beach, saying, “Ok everyone, we made it this far, but now the hard part begins. We will split up into two groups, as planned, and then advance toward the town. We will endeavor to gather as much intelligence on their defenses and make an effort to capture someone from their forces who knows more about their military structure than the outlaw Swalot did.”

            As the two groups were splitting up Akira said, “I brought four pairs of inhibitor cuffs. I placed two pairs in each groups’ toolbox. Lets’ move out!”

            Akira and Shade shared an embrace before the two groups parted and Akira whispered, “I love you,” to him.

            Right before withdrawing from her arms Shade replied, “I Know.”

            **And another Star Wars reference…**

            The two of them smiled at each other as they withdrew from their embrace. Then, they walked over to their respective teams.

            The two groups set out in the direction of Eastharbor Town. Shade’s group walked down the riverbank outside the forest. At the same time, Akira and Kyla’s team ventured into the forest. They quickly found a usable road through the woods.

            After about a day of walking, the team found a large clearing in the woods where they made a camp. The next morning, Akira addressed the group, she said, “Ok everyone, we should only be a day or less away from Eastharbor town. We need to pack up the camp and move out.”

            The group of five Pokémon soon ended up just outside the edge of the woods. There, the grass was dark green and there were still some scattered trees in the area. The group of five Pokémon could see the walls of Eastharbor town in the distance.

            Chadwick mentioned, “I thought that Eastharbor town did not have walls.”

            Delilah added, “I bet that this ‘Imperium’ built those walls recently.”

            **That seems like a reasonable observation, Delilah.**

            Stephan then mentioned, “They have clearly fortified this place. Those walls will make any attempts to liberate it difficult.”

            Akira led the group forward a bit and they found a small series of trees to hide behind. Akira looked over her allies and said, “I think we should split up for the moment so as to cover more ground and gather more intelligence.”

            **This ends up being a very bad decision for Akira.**

            Kyla then asked Akira, “How will we split up?”

            Akira replied, “Delilah, Chadwick and Stephan will try to maintain distance from the town’s walls and try to find entrances that could be exploited, as well as any other possible weaknesses. If you encounter any enemies, then try to take them prisoner. Do not let any of them get away with knowledge of our presence.”

            Kyla then realized where Akira could be going and then asked, “Wait, doesn’t that just leave me and you?”

            **Another good observation, this one comes from Kyla.**

            Akira nodded yes and responded, “I plan to sneak up closer to the walls and get a closer look at their defenses. Maybe we can also find an enemy of some importance on duty and capture them? Either way, both groups will meet up at this spot at half past midday.”

            **Most of this setting’s Pokémon do not have the best conception of time in terms of hours and minutes at their current level of technology.**

            Kyla folded her arms and asked, “That still does not explain why I am going with you instead of with my team?”

            Akira, realizing that she had failed to answer Kyla’s question, responded, “I want you with me because of your ability to sense auras. You will be able to alert me to the presence of any foes, ideally before they can see us. I may be stealthy, but I cannot sense enemies at the range that you can.”

            **On “paper” that idea makes perfect sense.**

            Kyla sighed and said, “Fine, we will get going in a moment.”

            Kyla walked over to Chad and whispered into his ear, “I love you, see you later today.”

            Chadwick embraced Kyla and whispered to her, “See you soon, darling. Good luck, I think you will be very sneaky.”

            **I think that he was just trying to give her a, slightly backhanded, compliment.**

            Kyla hoped that he was not referencing her past as an outlaw as she disengaged her arms from him. Delilah and Stephan gave Akira and Kyla waves as they walked away.

            **All right, here is another big development secret. This idea never made it to even the roughest draft of the story. Anyway, when I was first planning the Kyla-Chadwick romance very early into my mentally planning this story out, I did not make him a volunteer at the prison. He would, for some reason, not learn of her criminal past until the scouting mission. Kyla would have told him of her time as an outlaw then and ran away in anger when Chadwick broke up with her over that. Then, Kyla would get captured alone when she separated herself from the main group. After being liberated later on, Stanford, who was to be a new character at the time, would replace Chad after Delilah and Stephan would have kicked him off of the team. Kyla would have ended up with another Lucario, who she would have met as a fellow slave when in captivity after refusing to take Chadwick back post-the liberation of Eastharbor Town. This idea was dropped before Chad even appeared in the story for the first time. It seems that I missed the chance to subvert expectations with a romance-focused plot twist. However, I don’t regret keeping them together in both the official version of the story.**  

            Akira led the way as the two of them moved from plant cover to plant cover. Kyla scanned forward with her Aura Sense. Then, she told Akira, “There are a lot of vague auras inside the town and I think I sense a group to the north as well.”

            Kyla then cringed and Akira asked her, “What’s the problem, Kyla?”

            Kyla replied, “I sense a lot of misery coming from the group outside the town walls to the north of our position. It is not pleasant to sense, I can tell you that.”

            Akira thought for a moment and then said, “We should go check that out, actually. I want to know what could be causing all of that misery.”

            **If strong enough, the emotions of the targets of Aura Sense can have an effect on an Aura user who is not highly experienced in this setting.**

            Kyla nodded, even though she was not happy about having to go closer to the source of the unsettling feelings.

            Kyla and Akira started heading north, sticking to cover the whole time. Kyla scanned the top of the walls for auras. Fortunately, none of them seemed alerted to the duo’s presence.

            Kyla and Akira were hiding in a large series of bushes when they saw what looked like a side door in the wall opening. The duo saw a trio of Hawlucha and a pair of Larion leaving the town. All of them had purple sashes with gold stripes on them.  The group of five Pokémon started moving north.

            **For the first time, Legion troops appear in the story.**

            Kyla said to Akira, “They seem to be all very serious. They are moving towards the source of the misery.”

            Akira replied, “We need to grab one of them before they reach the larger group of Pokémon. We need a prisoner to interrogate and I do not know if the other groups have taken any captives yet.”

            Kyla and Akira carefully moved up to another large bush, they could now overhear the patrol.

            One of the Hawlucha turned to another of the three and told him, “While we move to the quarry, you will keep watch for any underground members who might be following us.”

            The other one saluted the patrol leader and replied, “Understood, I will follow the normal procedure. We do not want another one of their liberation attempts to succeed.”  

            **That means that an attempt has already succeeded.**

            The second Hawlucha started walking away from the patrol, as the others kept moving north.

            Akira said to Kyla, “Be ready to back me up.”

            Akira moved up to the front of the bush and whistled, the Hawlucha moved in closer to the bush and as he was almost there. Akira told Kyla, “Hit him with a Metal Claw, I will follow up.”

            **The whistle that Akira makes may have been a subconscious Assassin’s Creed reference.**

            As the Hawlucha was almost to the bush Kyla burst partially out of the bush and sliced into him with a Metal Claw.

            As the Hawlucha was reeling from the surprise attack, Akira fired an Icy Wind into the foe. He was partially frozen from the hit and he looked in terrible shape. But responded by striking Kyla with a Karate Chop.

            **In this universe, it can be quite hard to perform a successful stealth takedown, unlike in Assassin’s Creed.**

            Kyla staggered back from the hit, and the Hawlucha took the opportunity to yell. “Unidentified intruders have attacked me! I need backup, NOW!”

            Kyla swung another Metal Claw, which missed as Akira shouted, “Arceus damn it! We did not bring him down fast enough!” Akira took out the Hawlucha with another Icy Wind, and then started to run back towards the rendezvous point.

            Kyla saw the patrol do an about face as the other two Hawlucha took flight and the Larion charged forward at full speed. Their auras were filled with both surprise and rage.

            Akira shouted at Kyla, “Admittedly, this is the problem with stealth. Now follow me! We are falling back!”

              Kyla followed Akira through the bush and they started to flee towards the rendezvous point. The Hawlucha were closing in as they flew through the air, but the Larion were much slower and had fallen behind. Kyla told Akira, “Since we are outnumbered, we will need to find the other group and get out of here with them”

            As Akira was about to respond, she noticed the two Hawlucha were dive-bombing them. Akira nailed the one targeting Kyla with an Icy Wind, causing him to miss with his Flying Press attack. However, the Hawlucha targeting Akira struck her dead on with his Flying Press and Akira was forced to the ground.

            **Akira is doubly weak to Fighting Type moves. Kyla is only normally weak to them. My point being that Fighting Type attacks hit Akira REALLY hard most of the time.**

            Kyla turned to her attacker and sliced him with a Metal Claw, which barely slowed him down. Akira used Fury Swipes on her attacker, but she only landed a couple of hits and she was still on the ground.

            Kyla took a second Karate Chop as the two Larion appeared on the scene. They moved in closer and both launched Mud Slap attacks against Kyla. Kyla evaded one but got hit in the eyes with another. She began to feel weak at this point.

            Akira rolled along the ground to avoid a Karate Chop, and then responded with a successful Slash move, her foe seemed badly injured, but still willing to fight.

            Kyla charged past her Hawlucha and nailed a Larion with a Force Palm. The Larion took severe damage and then missed Kyla with a Head Butt.

            While the Hawlucha, who Kyla had been fighting, leaped at her with a Flying Press, Akira was charged and sliced by the uninjured Larion’s Metal Claw. The Hawlucha she was fighting then struck her with a Karate Chop to the stomach.

            **Akira is pretty high level, I assume. However, she is outnumbered here and being bombarded with attacks.**  

            Kyla turned to see Akira flanked by her foes and, therefore, was unable to see the Hawlucha flying at her. He hit her in the head with a Flying Press and Kyla staggered back and knelt to the ground.

            Akira considered trying to point-blank Icy Wind the Hawlucha. However, as she raised her arms to project the attack her energy gave out.

            Kyla swung another Metal Claw at her foe Hawlucha, but he easily sidestepped it. He then told her, “Give it up, you are outnumbered and almost unconscious.”

            **Looks like they are also interested in taking prisoners.**

            Kyla searched for her other allies’ auras, but she could not locate her teammates. She hoped they were out of reach, as the Hawlucha continued, “Put your hands on your head!”

            Kyla saw Akira being dragged up and putting her hands on her head. Kyla sighed a deep sigh and then placed her hands on her head as well.

             The pair of Larion watched carefully as each Hawlucha drew a pair of inhibitor cuffs from their pouches. Both Akira and Kyla were startled to see such devices and Kyla thought, “Someone else has gotten their hands on that old human technology, someone other than Shade?”

            Akira and Kyla were handcuffed behind their backs and told to keep quiet. One of the Hawlucha and the two Larion kept watch over their prisoners as the Hawlucha leader went to grab the unconscious body of their comrade, which he slung over his shoulder.

            The moment that Kyla was cuffed she felt her Aura Sense disappear. She lowered her head thinking, “I really hope the others find us soon.”

            **Power Inhibitors also suppress Aura Sense. That shows up again in the sequel.**

            The two captives were then, with their heads low, marched out of the fields and through the side door into occupied Eastharbor Town.

            **It looks like the others did not find them in time.**


	21. On the Origin of Kyla: Part I

            **The titles of this chapter and the next one were inspired by Charles Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species.” No Pokémon Fan Fic with a similar name inspired them, I have heard that one exists though. Also, this is the only instance of two chapters being Parts 1 and 2 with the same title in the whole ROC series.**

            Kyla and Akira were being marched through the occupied town; they had the two Larion behind them with the two Hawlucha in front. One of the Hawlucha dropped off his unconscious comrade at a guard post just inside the town’s walls. Then, the patrol marched their two captives across town until they were close to the settlement’s northern border.

            On the way, Kyla looked around the town and noticed a few things. For one, she saw plenty of Pokémon wearing the purple sashes with gold stripes. She noticed that the local civilian Pokémon were going about their daily business, but that they were doing their best to avoid the Pokémon wearing the sashes and would keep their heads down when they got close to them. 

            As for the settlement itself, Kyla noticed that it, like Megapolis, was a restored human town. Most of the buildings were converted human dwellings. Some of the buildings even had their top floors uninhabited and un-restored. Kyla also noticed that there were some new looking buildings that had did not look like any of the human buildings. All of them were made of carved stone blocks and many featured columns supporting parts of their roofs.

            **I wanted to give the Imperium a strong Roman Empire aesthetic with their architecture, some of their leaders’ names and their use of the term Legion. Also, their name is the Latin word for Empire.**

            The prisoners were marched up to a one-story building with a grey painted exterior. There was a flag flying on a pole above the building, which Kyla could not exactly make out, she did see that it was colored gold and purple. The building had the words “Legion Command: Eastharbor” In large letters on a long plaque above the main double doors. There was a pair of Metang with the usual sashes guarding the doors.

            The Metang used their arms to salute the patrol as they approached the door and the lead Hawlucha told the pair of guards, “One member of our patrol was attacked by these two. We were able to capture them after they tried to flee. We do not know who sent them.”

            One of the Metang guards replied, “We will know who sent them soon enough. You many take them inside, get them to an open cell.”

            **The Metang guard was using a euphemism for torture.**

            The Hawlucha and Larion escorted the prisoners inside after the Metang got the door open. The two captives were led through the large building to the back of the facility. The procession stopped at one of the cells and one of the Hawlucha opened its barred door with a key. The cell had a bench at the back and two beds on the sides; it was slightly smaller than the one that Kyla had shared with Alana in the past.

            The Hawlucha transferred Kyla and Akira’s inhibitor handcuffs to the front of their backs and then the patrol leader told them, “Alright, you two get in there. We will see you tomorrow.”

            Akira and Kyla entered the cell and the door was locked behind them. Kyla looked at the cell’s back wall and noticed that there was only a small window at the top to let light into the room.

            Kyla said, “It will be hard to watch the sunrise from that window.”

            **She remains focused on her morning ritual, even when captured.**

            Akira tilted her head quizzically at Kyla and asked, “Why do you feel the need to look at the sunrise? I think we have much bigger problems to deal with.”

            Kyla turned around and replied, “I used to watch the sunrise with my mother and I still did it whenever I could when I was a gang member. And even when I was in your prison, so I would rather not have that interrupted by anything. Now, with regard to our bigger problems, what do you think they are planning to do with us? They mentioned that they would soon know who we are and who sent us.”

            Akira sighed deeply and sat on the bench, she then looked down at her handcuffed wrists and said, her voice filled with despair, “This is my fault Kyla, I got both myself and you captured. I should not have had us attack that Hawlucha. We were undetected and we could have possibly either retreated back to our allies or followed the patrol farther and gathered more information. I thought we could get our own prisoner, and then retreat. I underestimated them.”

            **The Imperium means business…**

            Kyla sat next to Akira and placed a hand on her back, she then said, “We will get through this! I am sure that our allies have realized that we are gone and will make an effort to rescue us.”

            Akira looked at Kyla and replied, “Our best chance for rescue is that our allies will get back to Riverton safely and then mount a successful preemptive attack on this town before they can transfer us anywhere else. Even in the best-case scenario, that would take over a week. Honestly, I am not sure that we will ever see our friends and loved ones again… Shade, I am so sorry. We were only together again for such a brief period of time.”

            **This was when despair took over for Akira, but who could blame her?**

            Akira started crying and then Kyla thought for a second and then said, “Oh Chadwick, I…”

            Kyla resisted crying, refusing to give up hope. Akira stopped crying, took a deep breath and looked Kyla in the eyes, she then said, “Kyla, I need to prepare you for something.”

            Kyla asked, “What would that be?”

            Akira then replied, “They will clearly want a lot of information out of us and they will be determined to get it. I believe that there I a strong chance that we will be tortured.”

            Kyla asked, “Tortured?”

            Akira nodded solemnly and replied, “If we refuse to talk, they will use whatever techniques they have to cause us an escalating degree of pain to try and force us to talk in exchange for the pain stopping. If they torture us, I need you to be strong and not tell them anything, no matter what they do!”

            **I never directly depicted torture in my stories. I obviously wanted to try to stick to the T rating.**

            Kyla was horrified, she told Akira, “I have never been tortured! You never did anything like that to me when I was in your prison!”

            Akira glared at Kyla and responded, “We have standards, you know. We do not do things like that in the Alliance Territory. But these Pokémon are expansionist and organized and I am sure that they will want to know about the alliance and about the Guild and, you know what I mean.”

            **She realizes that the Imperium is a ruthless society.**

            Kyla nodded solemnly as she realized what was possibly going to happen.

            Akira looked Kyla in her eyes and said, “We will need to be strong and tell them nothing!”

            Kyla agreed and the two of them sat in their cell for the next few hours, that evening they were each brought dinners. That night, they both did their best to curl up in their beds and sleep. Kyla had trouble sleeping, though; she was worried both about Chadwick and the rest of her team and what would happen to her in the near future.

            The next morning, the two prisoners got up and were fed a small breakfast. Around noon, two of the Hawlucha walked up to the cell door and opened it.

            One of the two guards then said, “One of you is coming with each of us.”

            Kyla and Akira walked out of their cell. Then, the two of them had their handcuffs transferred to behind their backs Akira gave Kyla an awkward smile as each of them was led away.

            **Maybe that was a reminder to resist?**

            Kyla was led into the main part of the building and past a number of what appeared to be offices. Eventually they reached an office at the end of the hall, the door had a plaque on it saying: Occupation Force Commander.

            The Hawlucha guard opened up the door and told Kyla to walk in. She did as she was told and found herself in a wood walled office. On the office’s opposite wall she saw the flag from before. A male Machamp, wearing one of the purple-gold Sashes with the letters I.G. on it was sitting behind a wooden desk and looking over a small map.

            **I.G. stands for Imperial Guard. I don’t remember if I mentioned that in this story.**

            As Kyla entered the room he calmly said, “Have a seat, miss.” He pointed at a chair in front of his desk. Kyla walked over to the chair and sat down; she had to sling her hands up over the top of the chair, since they were cuffed behind her back.

            The Machamp said, “Sorry about that, miss. Now, why don’t we have a conversation?”

            Kyla replied sternly, “Sir, I will not tell you any valuable information. I do not care what you do to me.” She then lowered her head and said, her voice filled with conviction, “I will withstand your torture.”

            The Machamp gave her his own awkward smile and replied, “I really do not think you want that to happen, actually. If you must know we are going to have this conversation because I believe we can work out a way to prevent you from suffering unnecessarily.”

            Kyla asked him, her voice filled with contempt, “And why, sir, would you be so kind?”

            **That’s a legitimate question.**

            The Machamp responded, “One, it is standard procedure to try to interrogate a prisoner without torturing them because we expect most of our prisoners of war to become incorporated into our society in due time. Also, to add to that, why don’t you just say that you look kind of like an old friend of mine.” 

            Kyla rapidly said, “I understand. However, I won’t tell you anything.”

            **Defiant as always, aren’t you Kyla?**

            The Machamp sighed and then responded, “Why don’t we start with something simple, like our names. My name is Geoffrey. Now what is yours?”

            Kyla quickly replied, “You can call me Kyla.”

            Geoffrey briefly seemed to freeze. He then looked up at the ceiling and then lowered his head, he slowly said, “Ok, Kyla, why don’t you tell me about your life, you are under no obligation to tell me anything tactically sensitive. I want to know, for example, if you have any family or important friends. Then, if you tell me what I want to know, I will tell you about myself and my society.”

            Kyla was unsure about why Geoffrey wanted to know the answers he was asking for, but she responded, “Ok then. I will tell you about myself.”

            Over the next hour Kyla laid out a brief overview of her life for Geoffrey, he seemed to be listening intently. Kyla tried to leave out any details that she thought could be militarily important as well as the names of the Pokémon she knew. Eventually she reached the present, including her recent capture.

            Kyla then, as Geoffrey seemed to be processing the information he had been given, said, “That is what I can tell you in good conscience, now I guess you tell me about yourself.”

            Geoffrey walked around his desk to stand closer to Kyla and leaned against his desk. He then asked her, “Before that, Kyla, one more question. It may sound strange, but do you like your name?”

            **I bet that that came out of the blue for some readers…**

            Kyla thought it over for a moment and then she replied, suspicion in her voice, “It’s fine. I have no issues with my name. Why would you ask me that question?”

            Geoffrey looked her in the eyes and said, “Kyla, I want to know if you like your name because… I gave it to you and I have never before had the chance to ask you if you thought I made a good choice.”  He then sighed and continued, “You do not have to worry about being tortured, I cannot not let that happen to you. I have already made one massive mistake with regard to your well being in the first place.”

            **I was actually considering having Kyla get tortured before she encounters Geoffrey, at one point. However, I thought that that would eliminate all possibility of her joining the Imperium and I wanted to create a bit on tension around that idea. Of course, in that planned version, Geoffrey would spare her from further torture.**

            Kyla’s eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped as Geoffrey gave her a warm, but awkward smile. She sat up straight in the chair, filled with shock and horror. When she was finally able to form words, she could say only one, “Dad?”

            **I avoided the obvious reference by not having Geoffrey say, “Kyla, I am your father,” or something like that to her.**

            Geoffrey simply picked up Kyla by the shoulder with one of his upper arms, allowing her to stand. He then embraced her with his lower arms. He said, as Kyla was still trying desperately to process her realization, “Yes, my child, it has been far too long since I last saw you.”

            **I don’t remember when I came up with Geoffrey. However, as Kyla’s father, he became important to the story in the end.**


	22. On the Origin of Kyla: Part II

            Kyla was looking up at Geoffrey, her apparent father, after he released his embrace. Her mind was still going “all over the place” as she tried to rationalize what was going on. She thought, “There is no reason I can think of for him to lie to me and pretend to be my dad, so he must be? If he is my father, then I guess that explains why I am attracted to Chad, me and my mother must have similar physical taste in males.”

            **Males replacing men in this world…**

            Geoffrey looked back down at the still confused Kyla, and then remembered that she was still handcuffed. He told Kyla, “Hold on a second. I will explain everything soon enough.”

            Kyla watched as Geoffrey walked to his office’s door and opened it. The Hawlucha guard was still standing there. He saluted Geoffrey, who told him, “Sergeant, go retrieve a size B inhibitor collar and the key to this prisoner’s handcuffs.”

            The Hawlucha replied, “Yes sir,” and quickly departed. A few moments later he returned with the requested items.

            **The Legion’s soldiers are quite loyal and normally follow orders without hesitation or question.**

            Geoffrey took the items from the guard, who continued to stand at his post, and then walked over to Kyla, who had not yet fully recovered from shock. He gently attached the collar around her neck and then removed her handcuffs. He told Kyla, “Now, you are my only child and I love you. But, just because I love you does not mean I trust you…yet.”

            After giving the cuffs to the guard and ordering him to put them away, Geoffrey returned to Kyla, who was just starting to get herself together. Kyla rubbed her wrists and looked up at Geoffrey, she then asked, “If you are my father, then what is my mother’s name?”

            **Obviously, Kyla needs proof that he is her dad.**

            Geoffrey sighed, but then immediately replied, “Marina.”

            **Yeah, he knows the answer…**

            Kyla stiffened and then said, “So, you do know her name.”

            Geoffrey then told Kyla, “She was and is the only one I have ever loved romantically. But she made a horrible mistake that cost me you, until now, and ended my relationship with her.”

            Kyla asked Geoffrey, “What was that mistake?”

            Geoffrey put one of his upper hands on one of Kyla’s shoulders and told her, “We will get to that. However, I think that it would be best to start from the beginning. I have much to tell you kid. The Imperium, at least to me, is not what you think it is.”

            **At least he put that qualifier into his statement.**

            Kyla gave Geoffrey a suspicious look and then said, “Well, sir, I want to know everything you can tell me.”

            Geoffrey smiled at Kyla and patted her shoulder gently, “That’s my girl, you deserve to know your roots. It seems like your mother’s mistake cost you a life among barbarians of varying degrees.”

            Kyla asked Geoffrey, “Barbarians?”

            Geoffrey just chuckled and replied, “That is just a slang term we use for Pokémon who have not been incorporated into the Imperium, yet. We hope to eventually live in a world without them. By that I do not mean kill them all, obviously.”

            **The Imperium is NOT genocidal, I wanted them to be based on Imperial Rome, and NOT based on the Nazis like many fictional villains are. Also, I wanted the story to have a small bit of moral ambiguity in its main plot and having a racist and/or genocidal villainous society would have ruined that in my eyes.**

            Kyla looked a bit worried as she sat back down on the chair, but she asked her father, “Why don’t you begin the story now?”

            Geoffrey nodded and began, “It all started years ago, I have lost count of how many. I lived in what was, at the time; a small village built in the ruins of a larger human city on a raised hill. The village was under almost constant threat from both large outlaw gangs and packs of wild Pokémon. One day a trio of local adventures found a mysterious Pokémon in an old human ruin. When they resurfaced with him he was told about the problems the village was facing. He then gave us an offer: if he was able to liberate an old human factory on the town’s edge from a powerful wild Pokémon pack, then they would have the town council resign and make him the sole mayor. The local Pokémon agreed, thinking his chance of success was low. However, he took the group of adventurers and successfully forced the wild Pokémon to surrender the factory. He even convinced some of them to join the village and become civilized.”

            **I made some edits there to create a better continuity with the prequel story that I wrote after this one. I will chalk the original version’s flaws up to Geoffrey not having a perfect memory.**

            Kyla then asked her father, “What does this have to do with you?”

            Geoffrey said, “I come in about now actually.” Then he continued, “I was a young, but strong, Machop who had been born and raised in the village. When the new mayor and his closest allies were making a battle plan to engage a large group of organized outlaws. He supplied us with a very powerful Pokémon he claimed had been made by humans. He called it Genesect. He then asked for a volunteer to lead the village’s Pokémon into the main fight, while he and his team went to capture the enemy leader. I stepped forward, gave my name, and was given command of the forces. We won the battle easily thanks to both Genesect and the new mayor’s plan. Soon after our victory, the village and the area around it were secured. The new mayor and his council of advisors were not content, however. They started expanding the village into a real city. We became known to many of the nearby settlements as a local power. Soon the mayor began to give the other settlements on the island offers to join with us and form an alliance. Some accepted, but some did not. Then the mayor, before we even had incorporated most of the island formed The Legion, a military organization of Pokémon with the goal of expanding and defending our alliance. When one of our allied towns on the south coast was attacked by one of its neighbors, we marched there to defend our interests.”

            **There may be a few errors there, once again, I will say that Geoffrey is telling a broad strokes story from memory and that the prequel supersedes any contradictory information given here.**

            Kyla interrupted again, “Well, that explains the word ‘Legion’ I saw outside of this building, but where did the name ‘Imperium’ come from?”

            Geoffrey replied, “That is a good question, I will get to that shortly. However, there is something else you should know first. When The Legion was garrisoned in the coastal village I met with the local militia, it was then when I met a young Riolu girl, your mother. Marina and I began dating and soon after the defense of her home was complete she came to live with me in my home city. I do not do this anymore, but when we were together we would watch the sunrise every morning that we could. It was a tradition that her parents taught her.”

            **And now, the tradition’s origins come out…**

            Kyla’s eyes lit up and she exclaimed, “That is something that my mother taught me to do!” She sighed and then said, “I admit it, you must be my father if you know about that.”

            **She cannot deny it any more after hearing that.**

            Geoffrey smiled and said, “Now you finally see, but with regard to the Imperium… We ended up conquering the town that had threatened part of our alliance and over the next year we, one by one, incorporated each wild pack, tribe and settlement of Pokémon on the island until we were in full control of the place. It was then, that all the Pokémon of the island were to attend an event at the new capital city, where I grew up. At least one representative from every incorporated group had to come. It was there when our leader announced the formation of the Imperium and crowned himself Emperor. The new flag was unveiled and we were declared to be as one society under the emperor. With the Legion as our standing military.”   

            Kyla then asked, “You mentioned the flag, like the one behind your desk here. “I’ll bite, what does it represent?”

            Geoffrey replied, “You should know first that I am telling you all of this, because the story of the Imperium is something we want others to know. We want the ‘barbarians’ to understand how we rose from weakness to power. Also, as your father, I sincerely do want you to come around to our way of thinking… even if that takes some time. Now, the flag has a purple background with three thick gold lines coming from the bottom. The one branching out to the left ends in a symbol that looks akin to one of our buildings, that represents our civilian populace and our civic planning department. The second and central line ends in a fist, that represents The Legion, our military strength. The third line ends in a dagger point, that represents the internal authority, or as some call them the secret police. You do not want to end up with them. Their commander was a member of those outlaws that I mentioned earlier who gave his services to the future emperor and was rewarded for betraying his fellows.”

            **The term Internal Authority was developed after the main events of my prequel, since it was not used in that story.**

            Kyla nodded, trying to take all of the information in. She was impressed that her father was able to realize that he was giving a lot of information to a prisoner of war, regardless of their familial connection. She was a bit worried by the revelation, which she knew should have been more obvious, that he wanted her to defect to his side.

            Geoffrey then said, “Now, back to my story. The new Imperium established sea and air branches of the Legion and gave each branch a commanding officer. I was named the Captain of the Guard for the Emperor himself, and would be sent on missions to represent him when he could not be present personally. Such as right now, actually. Then, the emperor then announced a cross-channel assault on the mainland of this continent, which was successful. As we speak, The Legion is slowly, but surely driving south. The Emperor has been trying to reach a city he calls Megapolis for years. He claims that it will make a great secondary capital to relay orders to from the Imperial City on the island.”

            **The airborne branch of the Legion existed before the Imperium was fully formed. Once again, Geoffrey does not have a perfect memory.**

            Kyla knew exactly where and what Megapolis was, but she did not say a word to her father about it.

            Geoffrey noticed some uneasiness in his daughter’s eyes, but he continued, “Marina, my romantic partner at the time, was appointed to be my assistant. We worked as a fine team for quite a while. A few years ago, when we were in the city of her birth, Marina laid an egg. I was there when you were born, I only saw you on the first day of your life.”

            Kyla looked her father in the eyes, she had no active aura sense at the moment, but she somehow knew that despite everything that had happened, he loved her as his child.

            **That is a bit of an awww moment. In a weird way…**

            Geoffrey then continued, “The night of your birth, your mother fled the town on a raft with you. She left me a note telling me that she could no longer in good conscience be a part of the Imperium and that she wanted to raise you far away from the Imperium as possible. It took us years to locate her through careful scouting. Once the scouts found her, they hired some local outlaws, led by a female Monferno to, attacking from all sides, overpower and kidnap your mother. You were not there when they took her down, so only she was brought to the Imperium’s scouts. Then she was taken to this city, which we had captured to use as an outpost, with the eventual plan of using it as a possible secondary way to reach Megapolis.”

            **The irony is so rich, at least in my opinion.**

            Kyla was stunned, she said, “I later had to join the gang that captured my mother! They never told me, I hope they did not know I was her child. Did Alana know? What happened next, where is my mother now? Is she even alive?”

             Geoffrey looked a bit stunned by the irony and told Kyla, “Your mother was given to me as a prisoner when I started serving as base commander, while the Emperor has been working with the Legion to find and take Megapolis. I was able to spare her execution, but she was imprisoned and later assigned to a slave detail. While she was there another one of my officers defected to the underground, Pokémon working to end our occupation of this town. He rescued her and a few other slaves and they disappeared. I honestly don’t know where they are now.”

            **I was originally planning on having Marina executed by the Imperium for treason and Kyla learning that here. However, I did not want to do that to Kyla. Having her learn that her mother had been killed that is. Also, I knew that that could have been enough to make even Geoffrey lose his loyalty, so I had him spare her. She will show up later…**

            Kyla was upset that she could not see her mother again, but was relieved that she was probably alive. She asked, “Slave detail, what is that?”

            Geoffrey replied, “The courts of the Imperium sometimes issue sentences after a trial where a conviction is handed down that lead to a Pokémon criminal or, in some cases, a prisoner of war having to work on mining, building or other projects instead of merely sitting in prison. The sentence is almost never lifelong, this way criminals can be used to the benefit of society. Of course, those taken in by the secret police do not often get trials. Were you ever tried, Kyla? You said you were arrested once.”

            Kyla said, “No, I never received what you call a trial.”

            Geoffrey could not help but smirk, he told his daughter, “That just goes to show you the faults of the barbarians and their broken excuses for civilization. Now, I think you have some idea of your origins. Wherever Marina is now, I love the idea of what the look on her face would look like if you still got incorporated despite her efforts to stop that from occurring. …Still, I wish every day that she had never fled.”

            **This whole story would have gone down drastically differently if Marina had never fled. Can you imagine Kyla as a loyal member of the Imperium? I wonder if without her team being formed, would the Alliance Territory have won the war?**

            Kyla still wondered why Marina had never warned Polumbos Town about the Imperium. She then remembered Akira and asked her father, “Dad, what is to become of my friend Akira? She was captured with me.”  

            Geoffrey replied, “That one is not entirely in my hands, if she refuses to talk she will be given to the secret police for ‘enhanced interrogation.’ And do not think you can offer to join her out of some misplaced sense of morality. I will not let you be harmed while you are in my custody!”

            **Yeah… I used the term used by the second Bush Administration for torture. I do not remember if that was on purpose.**

            Kyla shrunk back as she realized what fate probably awaited Akira.

            Geoffrey then said, now calm again, “Also, being my daughter, you deserve much better accommodations while you are our ‘guest’ here. I will take you to a nicer holding area, now. I still have some paperwork to deal with today after this.”

            **Geoffrey was such a Bureaucrat at times…**

            Geoffrey personally led Kyla to a room close to the main part of the military complex. This room had a locked metal door, but it looked far more comfortable inside, with a large, fluffy bed and a large window as well as a desk and a mirror.

            Geoffrey left Kyla there, saying that this would be her new cell and then promised her he would be back as frequently as possible.

            That night, after a dinner of considerably higher quality then last night’s, Kyla, still wearing her inhibitor collar, got herself into her new bed. She thought, “I just hope that Chad and the others are ok. I am terrified for Akira, though.”

            **She should be.**

            As she began to drift away she thought one last thing, “At least, I know where I come from now. Mother, why didn’t you ever tell me the truth?”

            **We will learn that when Marina appears in the story. Anyway, Dawn of the Imperium, the prequel, does supersede any information that Geoffrey gives in this chapter that does not “jive” with it. Just a reminder.**


	23. Dancing with the Devil

            **The title of this chapter was taken from a famous line from a Batman movie. That one was simply called “Batman.” It came out in 1989 for those who don’t know what I am talking about.**

            For the next two days, Kyla was kept in her new cell. At least once each day her father, Geoffrey, would come to talk to her briefly. He seemed determined to convince her of the righteousness of the Imperium’s cause. However, she remained highly skeptical of his society’s morality due to their use of slavery and torture and also their insistence on continuous expansion of their borders. She knew that what they wanted was to, eventually, have the whole world under their control. Geoffrey had tried to explain to his daughter that he believed that the Imperium was too strong and tactically sophisticated to be defeated by any smaller force. Kyla was able to avoid telling him anything about the alliance outside of Riverton, which the Imperium seemed to have thoroughly scouted. Kyla could only assume that the rest of the scouting expedition had made it out safely, but she still desperately missed Chadwick. She knew that he was almost certainly wondering what had happened to her and if she was even alive.

            **I’m sure that he is…Also, speaking of Chadwick, I got the idea for his name when I learned that the Marvel Comics Superhero Black Panther would be played by an actor named Chadwick Boseman in Captain America: Civil War and future Marvel movies. I have seen the Black Panther movie by the time of this re-release.**   

            Two days after Kyla had met her father he opened the door to her cell and walked in while she was lounging on her bed. Kyla was wondering where Chadwick was at the moment and what he could be thinking about.

            Geoffrey had one of his lower arms behind his back, he walked up to Kyla as she got off of her bed and stood in front of him. Geoffrey said to his daughter, “I was thinking that you must be getting pretty restless in your cell.”

            Kyla replied, “It is not a bad room, but its not home and I would like to be able to leave at some point.”

            Geoffrey smiled and said, “Once The Legion takes over wherever your current home is, and then I am sure that we can get you back there. Ideally, by that point you will have learned that resisting the civilizing progress that we are bringing is futile.”

            **Geoffrey had quite a bit of faith in the inevitability of the Imperium’s victory…**  

            Kyla replied, “Why did you ask if I was getting cooped up in here?”

            Geoffrey grinned and replied, “Well, I want to take you somewhere tonight. At the new town hall we built for this settlement, there is a grand ball room. There is to be a celebration tonight, you do not need to know its purpose for now. It will be an upper class party, to put it simply. My boss, the Emperor, will actually be in attendance before he returns to General Brutus the Aggron’s forces, who are searching for Megapolis in the north.”

            Kyla then asked Geoffrey, “You want me to go with you, why?”

            **Well Kyla, you are his only daughter, after all.**

            Geoffrey replied, “I am allowed to bring one other Pokémon with me and I cannot think of anybody better than you. That is mainly because I want you to see more of what the Imperium represents, not the tyranny you seem to see, but civilized elegance.”

            As Kyla was nodding, Geoffrey showed his previously hidden hand, it was holding a gold, choker style, necklace with an emerald set it in. Kyla stepped closer to get a better look at the necklace as Geoffrey told her, “This was something I wanted to give your mother to celebrate your birth, but I never had the chance to. By the time I saw her again, I felt too betrayed to present her with it. It’s yours now, Kyla. Also, it will cover up your inhibitor nicely for tonight.”

            **Geoffrey is not really an evil person. He is more what some would call “Lawful Neutral.” In the end, he suffers for having misplaced his faith.**

            Kyla blushed slightly as she saw that the necklace was simply beautiful. She turned around to allow her father to put it on her from behind. Kyla then said, “Thank you, I have never worn anything like this before, Chadwick has not gotten me anything like this.”

            Kyla then covered her mouth as Geoffrey asked, “Who is Chadwick? And why would he be buying you expensive jewelry?”

            **And now, that finally comes out…Kyla avoided mentioning her love life when she described her life to Geoffrey.**    

            Kyla looked embarrassed and awkward and said, “He is one of my teammates and he is my boyfriend. He is actually a Machoke, like I am sure you once were.”

            Geoffrey smiled awkwardly and replied, “I see, well you and your mother must have similar tastes in males. Anyway, we should be going now. You will have to tell me more about this Chadwick of yours later.”

            **I should mention that Geoffrey’s name was NOT intended to be a reference to the Game of Thrones character. My own father watches that show, but I don’t.**

            Father and daughter left the cell and then the building, Geoffrey told Kyla as he was leading her through the town at evening, “Please, for both my sake and yours do not try to act hostile to ANYONE there, especially the Emperor. I cannot protect you from him. I can protect you from anyone else, just not him. I would not worry, though. I have served him loyally for long enough that because you are my daughter he will not be hostile to you, despite your barbarian upbringing.”

            Kyla nodded and replied, “Well I assume that you will not let me get into trouble. I guess I will ‘behave’ to the best of my ability.”

            Geoffrey smiled and patted his daughter on the back, saying, “That’s my girl.”

            **Geoffrey genuinely cared about Kyla; she was probably the last family member he had left after Marina had left him. I never do say much about his parentage, to my memory.**

            Geoffrey and Kyla soon reached the, Imperium built, town hall of Eastharbor, which was actually quite a large building. It was the largest Pokémon made building Kyla had ever seen. The front section was a white and brown stone cylinder with a short domed roof. Coming out the back of the building was an elongated section made of the same white stone with some gold trim. There were windows with glass panes all over the building’s sides. The building had at least three stories in total.

            **The Imperium sure loves to build things. I would say that they prefer creation over destruction by far.**

            Geoffrey told his daughter, “The ballroom is in the rear portion of the building, follow me.”

            Kyla did as she was told and followed her father past the guards and through the building’s front door. After passing through the main rotunda, Kyla and Geoffrey found themselves near another door with a Hawlucha guarding it. Thankfully, Kyla did not recognize this one in particular.

            **That could have been moderately awkward otherwise.**

            Geoffrey drew a letter from a pouch and presented it to the guard, as he said, “Imperial Guard Captain Geoffrey and my guest.”

            The Hawlucha looked over the invitation and saluted the two guests, saying, “You may enter sir and ma’am.”

            The Hawlucha opened the door and let the pair of guests in. Geoffrey told his daughter, “Because of your necklace, the other Pokémon here will not necessarily know you are a prisoner of war.”

            Kyla nodded, thankful that the event would be less awkward for her than she previously suspected it would be. Father and Daughter then entered the large ballroom.

            The room was massive, and had a white marble floor and mostly white colored walls and a ceiling. Gold-colored trim and furnishings were all over the room. There were a number of brass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and multiple tables with refreshments on them at the sides. There were at least 20 Pokémon, other than the servants and guards, in the room. Many of them were wearing fancy purple sashes with the gold stripes Kyla had become accustomed to seeing.

            Geoffrey pointed out a couple of the Pokémon at the event to Kyla, saying, “There is Valeria the Skarmory, she is the commander of The Legion’s air division.”

            **She becomes more developed in my final two stories.**

            He then pointed to another Pokémon, saying, “There is Cassius the Dusknoir, do stay away from him. He is the chief of the Secret Police. He serves the emperor loyally, but he can be a creepy one. It makes sense considering what his job is.”

            **He gets some important “screen time” in the prequel.**

            Kyla asked her father, “Is there a Walrein here?”

            Geoffrey replied, “No, the admiral is out at the moment, he could not join us this evening. How do you know about him?”

            As Kyla was thinking of the best way to answer her fathers question she heard a commanding, but calm, male voice say. “Geoffrey, I have not seen my Captain of the Guard in quite some time. Once this business is over we really need to get you back to the capital.”

            **Here comes the Big Bad…**

            Geoffrey stood at attention and saluted, as Kyla saw whom she assumed was the Emperor approaching. The Emperor was a Pokémon she had never seen before, about her height, but floating about half a foot of the ground. He had no wings, but effortlessly glided over to the pair. On closer inspection she saw that he was a purple colored, bipedal Pokémon with a large, darker colored tail and two sharp, but short, ears and three-fingered hands. It almost seemed like there was a tube on his back as well. He was wearing a three-pointed gold crown, whose ends looked like the symbols on the Imperium’s flag. He was also wearing a grey chain necklace with a strange stone in the center, which was perfectly spherical. Lastly he was wearing a purple cape with white edges, which was fastened over his shoulders above the necklace.

            **I have to “pat myself on the back” for the way I designed the Imperial crown. I did not remember that I did that until I reread this chapter.**

            The Emperor landed softly in front of Geoffrey and Kyla and returned Geoffrey’s salute. He then looked over a Kyla and, with no hint of malice in his voice said, “So, captain, this must be the lovely miss Kyla, your long lost daughter.” He then calmly bowed, took Kyla’s hand and kissed it.

            **The Emperor knows how to be a gentlemon himself when it is appropriate.**

            Geoffrey replied, “Yes sir, this would be Kyla.” He then told his daughter, “May I present the supreme leader of the Imperium, the Emperor Mewtwo.”

            **And now, Mewtwo finally shows up. I know that Mewtwo is a pretty common antagonist in Pokémon fanworks due to his being the villain of the first movie. At least I assume as much. However, I wanted to give the character my own spin as a pragmatic and charismatic conqueror that hides any doubts and insecurities he may have behind a partially genuine façade of civility. The Mewtwo of ROC is the sort of egotist who genuinely believes that he is both worthy to rule the world and that everyone would do so much better under his rule. He gets a lot more screen time in the prequel, where he is portrayed in a more “grey” way, since he is the male lead of that story.**

            Kyla could only reply by saying, “My father has told me so much about you.”

            Mewtwo smiled and then replied, “Geoffrey, Valeria has been wanting to see you again for some time. You should go talk with her. I will escort the young lady for the moment.”

            He then turned to Kyla and calmly asked, “Shall we dance?”

            Kyla felt awkward, remembering Chadwick. However, Mewtwo quickly continued, “Do not worry, this is nothing romantic. Besides, Arya would kill me.” He ended his statement with a chuckle.

            As Kyla took Mewtwo’s hands she asked him, “Who is Arya?”

            **Good question…**

            Mewtwo replied, “She is a very beautiful Ninetales and my consort. I plan to marry her when my army takes the ancient human capital of Megapolis.”

            **Arya does not get any lines in the original version of this story. However, she becomes an important character in both sequel stories and is the official protagonist of the prequel.**

            Kyla was shocked that Mewtwo knew what Megapolis had been. However, she had another question, “What do you mean by marry?” She asked him as they started to dance.

            Mewtwo laughed again and responded, “It is an old human custom that I re-introduced when I founded the Imperium. It is a way for a couple to secure their relationship status in the eyes of society. Even though it is not always permanent. Arya is certainly very excited to become the Empress of the Imperium once we have the grand ceremony.”

            **Pokémon marriage ends up becoming widespread by the end of this story, anyway. It has become extremely common by the beginning of the sequel as that story’s main character has married parents.**

            Kyla could not help herself, as they kept dancing she asked Mewtwo another question, “How do you know about the city of Megapolis and what it was?”

            Mewtwo raised an eyebrow at her, but quickly regained his composure, twirled Kyla around and replied, “My dear young lady, I know these things because I have lived longer than anyone else in my Imperium. I am, after all, a legendary Pokémon.”

            **He loves to bring that up…**

            Kyla mentally froze as she kept dancing with him, it all made sense as to how Mewtwo knew what he did. She had never believed that any legendary Pokémon would associate themselves with mortals until now.

            **I made it so that in my setting, Legendary Pokémon with biological bodies are all male of female. However, even though they can develop interest in a mortal consort, or another Legendary Pokémon without regard to Egg Groups, they are always sterile and therefore cannot have biological children naturally.**

            Kyla then regained her composure. Mewtwo seemed unfazed by her shock, he had probably seen that all before many times.

            Kyla said, “I you are a legendary Pokémon, then have you met any other legendary Pokémon? I assume you have never met Arceus, right?”

            Mewtwo could not help but laugh, not at Kyla, but at what she said. He then replied, “Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, they are all myths. Tall tales to be sure. In my domain we do not allow such worship, it distracts the citizens from their civic duty.”

            **Was Mewtwo an effective atheist? I am not sure…**

            The situation became more awkward for Kyla at this point, she then said, “Why would you not let Pokémon follow their own beliefs with regard to religion?”

            **I never thought that I would find myself having that argument come from a sympathetic character in one of my stories.**   

            Mewtwo gave Kyla a look, he then replied, “I admire your bravery to even have asked me that. However, I have already given my answer. It is an unnecessary distraction from the work of expanding and improving the Imperium.”

            **Originally, the Imperium was to be institutionally homophobic. However, when the “Marsha incident” hit my beta reader asked me to drop that idea. So, I never really mentioned homosexuality with regard to the Imperium.**

            Kyla decided to then ask another question, “Also… sir, why are you so insistent on expanding your society, why can’t you allow other Pokémon to live free from your influence?”

            Mewtwo seemed lees outwardly annoyed at that question, he responded, “I demand expansion for the ultimate good of the world’s Pokémon. Sure I use slavery, a secret police network and forced de-conversion, but I do it so that we Pokémon can have a stable and effective civilization that will not fall to either internal or external pressure. Since I am immortal, I can continue to rule as the sovereign long after my even all of my best current officers, and even Arya, are dead.”

            **Mewtwo did love Arya, actually. That really comes out in the prequel. However, in my setting Ninetales live longer than most mortal Pokémon. That is based on some Pokédex entries.**

            Mewtwo took a breath and then concluded, “Allow me to assure you of this, Kyla, you should join us sooner rather than later. This is because we will conquer not only Riverton, but also the rest of this continent. Eventually there will be nowhere to run for barbarians. You dance far to well to be a barbarian, Kyla, you know that?”

            Kyla blushed, but she said nothing, at this point she was convinced that, Mewtwo was certainly not going to stop his plans.

            Mewtwo then relaxed and stopped dancing, he told Kyla, “Come now, lets find your father. I shall return you to him. I should say, though, that the reason we are having this party is to celebrate Admiral Julius the Walrein’s invasion force having left for Riverton. We normally expect victory from The Legion, so we are not waiting for news of how the battle turned out.”

            **Arrogance was arguably Mewtwo’s biggest weakness. Also, do any of you notice the Brutus, Cassius and Julius reference? Just to be clear, I was mentioning the names of Julius Caesar and the Roman Senators who led the assassination of him, Brutus and Cassius. It goes with the Roman Empire theme of the Imperium.**  

            As Mewtwo led her over to Geoffrey, who had finished up a conversation with Valeria, Kyla felt immensely guilty that she had not realized the reason for the celebration before. She was just glad that the Imperium had not taken Riverton, at least not yet.

            **The Legion had never faced a force as coordinated and strong as the Alliance Militia at the time, however.**

            Kyla was reunited with Geoffrey as Mewtwo bowed to her one last time, saying, “Thank you for the dance, my lady. I believe that Cassius needs to discuss something with me, so I will be on my way.”

            Kyla, out of politeness, bowed back and then turned to Geoffrey. She said, “Your leader is very…. confident. He seems to believe that he is doing what is right. I am not sure of that at all though.”

            Geoffrey seemed slightly annoyed and then told Kyla, “He is a very strong leader, he treats those who do follow him very well. However, he has little patience for the barbarians who resist the Imperium. Now, Kyla let your old dad see what a good dancer you are.”

            **Mewtwo may be this story’s Big Bad, but he at least knows how not to be a “bad boss,” that’s another TV Tropes reference right there.**

            Kyla and her father danced for the next hour. Kyla then shared dances with a couple of the civilian planning department’s Pokémon who were at the ball.

            After the event began to wind down, Mewtwo and his other advisors left. Geoffrey then returned Kyla to her cell. She did thank him for bringing her to the ball. In her head, she knew that she was doing this because she had learned a lot more about the Imperium through the event and she also now knew who led it. She just wished she could tell the Alliance about her discovery.

            After Geoffrey left, as Kyla was about to fall asleep she, in a quiet act of defiance, sent up a prayer to Arceus for the Alliance Militia Pokémon who would be defending Riverton from The Legion. Also, she sent up a prayer for her teammates Delilah and Stephan and finally one specifically meant for Chadwick. Then, she fell asleep.

            **Kyla will not be in captivity for much longer. Only eleven chapters left in the story now.**

           


	24. The Rescue

            Kyla remained in her cell for the next ten days. During that time, she was not made aware of Akira’s fate. She was also not informed about whether or not The Legion’s forces sent to capture Riverton for the Imperium had succeeded.

            Her father, Geoffrey, had checked in with her at least once each day, he had also insisted that she keep the necklace he had given her. During their conversations, Geoffrey had repeatedly tried to convince his daughter that, regardless of its faults, the Imperium was a better society than any other in the world.

            Kyla would normally press back by focusing on the Imperium’s problems, such as the use of forced labor, the torture of prisoners, the forbiddance of open religious worship of any kind, the relentless expansionism, and the existence of the “secret police.” Apparently, they had the authority to arrest any Pokémon in the Imperium with the exception of its highest-ranking officers, without the arrest even ever being made public.

            **The Imperium was never meant to be totally evil. Overall, it could be viewed as a Lawful Neutral faction with Lawful Good and Lawful Evil members as well. Assuming you understand those terms. However, they still did a lot of bad things and most certainly are the main antagonists of this story.**  

            Geoffrey at least seemed to be listening to Kyla’s complaints. However, he told Kyla that he firmly believed that the Imperium’s mission and its goals were justified given what he viewed as the anarchic state of the world outside its borders.

            **The idea of the Imperium as a civilizing force was the key to their propaganda.**

            The whole time she was imprisoned, Kyla was deeply worried about the fate of her closest allies. For all she knew, the scouting expedition had failed completely. Also, regardless of the expedition’s fate, she knew that if The Legion managed to secure Riverton than they would have a straight shot to Polumbos, the outpost and eventually Megapolis. She knew that Mewtwo wanted to seize Megapolis, and she did not want him to succeed in that goal.

            On the tenth straight day of her captivity since she had been to the ball, Geoffrey had not yet visited Kyla when evening fell. Kyla was confused, since he had always taken some time each day, no matter how small to visit her.

            As the sky was getting dark, Kyla’s cell door opened and one of the Hawlucha and one of the Larion guarding the Legion building came inside. The Hawlucha told Kyla, “Get on your knees, hands on your head!”

            Kyla did as she was told, feeling very nervous, the Larion watched her carefully as the Hawlucha grabbed her necklace off of the cell’s table. He said to the Larion, “We are supposed to bring this with us.”

            **Geoffrey would not want Kyla losing his gift to her.**

            The Larion nodded as the Hawlucha returned to Kyla, after putting her necklace in a small pouch. Kyla asked, “What is going on, where are you going to take me?”

            The Hawlucha bound her wrists behind her back with inhibitor cuffs, removed her inhibitor collar and then replied, “Captain Geoffrey has ordered us to transfer you. We are going on a trip, miss.”

            **Now I wonder why they are transferring her?**

            Kyla was marched out of the cell and out of the front door to the building, as it got darker outside, she realized that she was being taken to the docks, which Geoffrey had told her were at the far side of the town.

            As the three Pokémon proceeded through town, with the Hawlucha in front of Kyla and the Larion bringing up the rear, Kyla saw that only a few Legion Pokémon were out on the streets of Eastharbor town. Kyla and her guards passed a legion patrol and Kyla could hear someone saying, “You know, the air scouts say that we lost at Riverton, that the barbarians were uncharacteristically prepared and they eliminated most of the Legion invasion force. The admiral had to call a full retreat!”

            **Losing after a long winning streak can suck…**

            Another voice said, “Yeah, I heard that command is not going to reinforce us any further. They are too focused on the operations up north. They think that the Emperor now has some idea where this ‘Megapolis’ place he has been chasing is.”

            As Kyla and her guards were moving away a final voice said, “Apparently, the admiral and the base commander have been evacuated from this place, back up to our city on the northern coast…”

            **I found those overheard conversations to be an effective way to convey some information to my readers in this chapter.**  

            Kyla was now out of range to hear anymore, but she smirked to herself as she realized that Riverton was probably safely out of the Imperium’s control.

            A few moments later the trio were almost at the docks. Kyla could still not see any rafts or barges yet. Then she heard a loud whirring noise and saw a blue ball of light coming from between two small buildings. She thought, “An Aura Sphere?” as the ball came into range and collided with the Larion escorting Kyla, knocking him out in one hit.

            **Goodbye!**

            The Hawlucha guard then pushed Kyla to the ground, shouting, “Stay right there!”

            As he advanced in the direction the Aura Sphere had come from An Icy Wind blast struck him. As he was reeling from that attack, Kyla saw who she believed was Akira coming out from between the buildings.

            **There she is…** **after all that time.**

            Then, a male Typhlosion rushed out from behind Akira and finished the Hawlucha with a Flamethrower to the face.

            **Another Head-shot critical hit!**

            Kyla tried to stand back up as Akira walked up to her. Akira said, as she retrieved the keys to Kyla’s handcuffs from the fainted Hawlucha, “Hey Kyla, it’s good to see you again.”

            Kyla had no idea how Akira had gotten free, but she was helped up as the Typhlosion kept watch.

            After Akira removed Kyla’s cuffs, she heard a familiar, female, voice saying, “My Typhlosion companion’s name is Henry…. I have unfortunately not seen you in a while, Kyla.”

            **Now, Marina finally makes her first appearance in “person” Readers have now finally encountered both of Kyla’s parents.**

            Kyla looked up to see an older female Lucario approaching. Kyla rubbed her eyes and then realizing whom it was, rushed at her.

            Akira watched as the two Pokémon embraced, with Kyla shouting, “Mom, I have not seen you in years! Why did you not tell me the truth before, about the Imperium? About my father?”

            **All good questions…**

            Marina released her daughter and told Kyla firmly, “I can explain all of that later. Lets’ just say that right now we went far out of our way to rescue you. We need to leave now, before more Legion soldiers show up!”

             Akira mentioned, as they group of four was leaving the Eastharbor town, “Well, Marina, that explains why you became so interested in rescuing my friend after you heard her name and species.”

            Marina nodded at Akira and then the group took off for the west outskirt of town. The four of them used Kyla and Marina’s Aura Sense to avoid Legion patrols. They reached one of the side doors to the wall, which had clearly been destroyed. As the group escaped from the vicinity of Eastharbor, Kyla noticed the area she was sure she had sensed immense misery from days before was now devoid of Pokémon. She saw a number of destroyed inhibitors in that area as they fled into the woods.

            **I wonder what happened there…**

            For the next few hours, Kyla and Akira followed Marina and Henry though the woods near Eastharbor and through some tall grass to a large cave. Marina said, “Well, here is the underground’s base. We have a number of new guests tonight since the successful slave liberation.”

            **There is another mention of tall grass. Something that pretty much any Pokémon fan should get.**

            As they entered the cave Marina asked Henry to keep watch, he saluted her and then Kyla turned to Akira, asking her, “So… Akira, I am really relieved to see you in one piece. What happened to you after we were separated?”

            Akira sighed and responded, “I don’t know what happened to you, but I was interrogated by a Dusknoir. Then, when I refused to talk, I was tortured for four days, with few breaks. After I still refused to talk, they decided to enslave me. I was forced to work in the quarry, directing the stronger slaves stone excavation and cutting efforts. That was, until your mother and Henry and some of their allies arrived to liberate us. I told them, after I was freed, that I had a friend who had also been captured. Then I told them what your name was and Marina asked for your species. As soon as I told her that, she told Henry that they had to rescue you and she found you using her Aura Sense.”

            **Marina may not have risked finding Kyla if she were not her daughter. She decided it was worth the risk to see her child again.**

            Kyla then told Akira, “Well, you were rescued by my long-lost mother. I was lucky enough to not be tortured because…”

            Then Marina interrupted her daughter by saying, “She was not tortured because apparently her bastard of a father still has a bit of a heart left. Now, you two should get some rest. Kyla, I will talk to you tomorrow morning, I promise.”

            **Marina and Geoffrey’s break up was obviously not amicable.**

            Kyla gave her mother a confused look as she could sense the shock in Akira’s aura and face. She then sighed and said, “Whatever you say, mom. see you tomorrow morning.”

            Kyla and Akira were escorted by some other underground Pokémon to a place to sleep in the cave as Marina was talking with Henry. Kyla noticed that she could not exactly read her mother’s aura, unlike most other Pokémon she had encountered.

            Kyla did her best to sleep that night, with Akira nearby her. The next morning, she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up to see Marina, who whispered, “Good morning Kyla. We should have our talk now. Henry, Akira and the others are still asleep. Follow me outside.”

            Kyla got up and followed her mother outside. Once there, mother and daughter watched the sunrise for the first time in years together, and then Kyla asked Marina, “Mom, why did you never tell me about my father or the Imperium? Also, why can’t I read your aura?”

            **I think that it was sweet that they saw the sunrise together again.**

            Marina replied, “I never told you about this, but I practiced some techniques to make my aura harder to read so that it would be harder for any enemy Lucario to sense my emotions when I was still with the Imperium. I can keep my aura scrambled with nearly no effort now.”

            **I totally made the concept of Aura Scrambling up. There is no canon basis for that, at least as far as I know.**

            Kyla said, “Ok then, but what about your life up until my birth? Why did you never tell me the truth?”

            Marina looked her daughter in the eyes and replied, “Kyla, I fled the Imperium with you because I had become ashamed of what I had been a part of. I took you as far away from the Imperium as possible because I never wanted to deal with them again. I was wrong to run, because they found me anyway. As you may know by now, I was captured by hired mercenaries while you were out exploring and taken to Eastharbor. Your father spared me execution for treason and I was forced to work as a slave. I was able to convince Henry, who was a Legion officer, to have a similar realization to mine and defect to the underground. He freed me and some of the other slaves, and later we found this cave, which we turned into our base.”

            **Marina might have been living in that cave for quite a long time.**

            Kyla then said to her mother, “Ok, but why could you not tell me about the Imperium. I know that you left them because you did not want to keep being a part of their society and you did not want me to be a part of it either. What was the deal with you never telling me about my father, or your role in the Imperium?”

            **That was another good question from Kyla.**

            Marina could tell that Kyla wanted answers, and she sighed before saying, “Kyla… I did not tell you the truth because I was so ashamed that I was ever with your father. He never abused me in our relationship, but he was so committed to his emperor and the whole crazy plan to conquer the planet that I decided there was no hope for him soon after your birth. If you must know, I was too ashamed to tell you about him or my past because I did not want you to know and worry about it. However, ultimately, I still wished I had never laid eyes on Geoffrey.”

            **That’s kind of sad, since she used to love him and he never stopped loving her.**

            A terrible realization dawned on Kyla as she said, her voice quaking, “Mom, does that you mean you regret even having me?”

            **That was frankly not the worst conclusion to draw, based on what Marina had just said.**

            As tears began to flow down Kyla’s cheeks Marina seemed to realize the mistake she had made, she then quickly embraced her daughter and said, “Kyla, please never say that again! You were the only good thing that came out of my being with your father. I may not have shown it last night, but I am extremely happy to see you again.”

            Kyla felt amazingly relieved as she hugged her mother back.

            **Possible emotional crises averted…**

            After Marina withdrew her arms from her daughter, she said, “You should know, though… that me and Henry have been together since after we fled Eastharbor Town. Who knows, he might give you a younger brother or sister one day.”

            **That never canonically happens. I don’t remember why or when I came up with Henry, but he did have a role to play in the story.**

            Kyla looked more than a little unnerved, she knew that her parents were never getting back together, and that her father was miles away by now, but she still felt awkward at the idea of her mother being with someone else.

            **I am pretty sure that plenty of real people have negative feeling about their stepparents. In fact, I have seen it in real life. Not in my family, though.**

            Marina then changed the subject, saying, “I want you to tell me about your life since I was abducted, I want to know what that badge you are wearing represents. But first, I should tell you that The Legion did lose a battle for once at Riverton. We intercepted an enemy Wingull messenger and learned that the remains of the Legion’s force is on the way back to Eastharbor, defeated and demoralized. That was why we pulled off last night’s raid. We are hoping to schedule another slave liberation in a few days, to get the last group out. Now that you know that, what have you been up to since my disappearance?”

            **Kyla will have to tell her life’s story to both of her parents, it seems.**

            Kyla knew that her mother would have to learn about her time as an outlaw at some point, so she told her mother the complete story of her recent life as the morning continued.

            Marina was at first shocked to learn that her daughter had been a bandit, especially since Kyla had unknowingly worked with her abductors, but she was ultimately forgiving. She was bothered by the bigotry displayed by Hans, but felt that it was impressive that Kyla had been able to form her own team. She was surprised and impressed to learn about Kyla’s relationship with Chadwick and expressed great interest in meeting him in the future. Lastly, she was deeply interested in hearing the story told by Magnezone about the destruction of humanity.

            After learning what Geoffrey had told Kyla about her birth and the events leading up to it, Marina reluctantly confirmed all of the family history he had told Kyla to be true.

            **I added the word family to the story in this draft to keep the continuity in decent shape.**  

            Marina then told her daughter, “We should be heading back inside the cave soon. I think after the next slave liberation we will try to march to Riverton and meet up with your Alliance Militia. They seem to be impressively competent if they were able to defeat a Legion attack force.

            Kyla nodded and hugged her mother, saying, “That sounds good, with any luck I will soon be with my Chadwick again. I wonder how I will explain all of this to him?”

            **I think that she mainly does so “off screen”.**

            Marina chuckled as the two Lucario returned to the cave to meet up with their allies, who were inside.

            **Well, Kyla is safely back with her mother now. Only ten chapters left. I do not plan to countdown every chapter. You don’t need to worry about that happening.**


	25. The Liberation of Eastharbor Town

            Kyla and Akira stayed with the underground Pokémon for the next few days. Kyla had made sure to keep the necklace, which Geoffrey had given her, safe in her small, makeshift bed. During that time, Kyla also helped the others drive away groups of wild Pokémon who got too close to the cave. She and Akira also commiserated about missing their respective lovers as well as other friends and allies.

            One morning Marina called Kyla, Henry, Akira and the others into an area of the cave, which had been turned into a makeshift briefing room. There was a table with a map, which had been stolen from the Imperium, laying on it. The map showed the vicinity of Eastharbor Town and Marina pointed to a spot just outside of the town’s western wall.

            Marina then began, “While scouting with Henry yesterday, near the river, I picked up a number of auras closing in on Eastharbor town. I was able to confirm that those auras represent the remainder of the land-bound Legion forces that failed to capture Riverton. They should have reached town by now. It appears that we should have launched our last slave liberation a little earlier. Anyway, we need to move now before the Legion soldiers in Eastharbor can get rested and rejuvenated.”

            **I always assumed that resting restored all PP for moves. Therefore, attacking before they can rest is a good idea.**

            Akira then said, “I hate the idea of returning to that place, but we need to free the last group of other slaves so we can get back to the Alliance Territory.”

            **Or they will come to you…**

            Marina nodded and then finished, “We will launch an offensive from the woods with almost all of our Pokémon and neutralize the guards at the slave barracks. Then we will get the slaves’ inhibitors off and flee into the woods before the enemy can pursue us too far. A small number of our Pokémon will remain here to guard the cave.”

            Henry and Marina ordered the underground Pokémon to move out. Four of the group’s members were picked to guard the cave as the remainder began the trek to Eastharbor.

            It was evening when the underground, with Kyla, Marina, Akira and Henry, the groups strongest Pokémon, in the lead, reached the outskirts of Eastharbor Town. As the Pokémon waited in the bushes Kyla and Marina suddenly both sensed something and looked each other in the eyes.

            **Here comes the cavalry!**

            Kyla said, “Mom, do you sense another massive group of Pokémon coming towards town?”

            As Marina was about to reply, Akira said, “I do not know if you even need to be a Lucario to sense that loud noise coming from…”

            Everyone looked over to see a group of around 100 Pokémon storming toward Eastharbor town. Some of them were carrying flags with a red background and three circles, one blue, one green and one brown.

            Akira shouted, “It’s Theodore!” and pointed to the head of the group where they all saw the Mamoswine leading the charge.

            **His best moment is coming up…**

            Marina said, “Looks like the Alliance Militia has taken the initiative after their victory at Riverton… New Plan, I will take Akira, Kyla and Henry and assault the slave barracks while everyone else attack the southwest side door and open up a second front to assist the militia.”

            As the underground split up to enact Marina’s plan, they all watched the militia charge the wooden front gate of Eastharbor Town’s wall. Theodore did not even stop. He burst right through it effortlessly.

            **There is Theodore’s best moment, in my opinion. Stopping a Mamoswine is not easy.**

            As the militia’s Pokémon were pouring into Eastharbor and alarm bells began to ring, Kyla and her allies rushed the slave barracks.

            Kyla, Akira, Marina and Henry rushed into the field next to the quarry, as they began to advance on the barracks four Pokémon approached them. There were a pair of Hawlucha and a pair of Larion preparing to attack the intruders.

            One of the Hawlucha struck Marina with a Flying Press as The two Larion tried to use Mud Slap on Kyla. One of the Mud Slap attacks connected with Kyla as she dodged the other. The other Hawlucha rushed Akira with a Flying Press, but Henry got in the way and took the attack.

            **That could really have hurt Akira.**

            Marina rapidly back-flipped away from her attacker and nailed one of the Larion with an Aura Sphere, dropping him.

            **She’s pretty good at that.**

            At the same time, Akira sniped the Hawlucha who Henry was fighting with an Icy Wind. Then, Henry detonated a Lava Plume around him, downing his foe.

            **Like in the PMD games, I had Lava Plume hit all enemies next to the user.**

            Kyla then saw her opportunity and rushed the remaining Larion; she then struck him with a Force Palm. He reeled back, but remained conscious.

            The remaining Hawlucha then flew up over the group and Karate Chop dive-bombed Akira, who took severe injury.

            **That did really hurt Akira.**

            At the same time, the Larion Kyla was fighting began to retreat after Head-Butting her to little effect.

            **I always capitalize move names, even if I have modified them to make more grammatical sense in a particular context.**  

            Akira used Fury Swipes on her attacker as Marina came in from behind him and stabbed him in the back with a Metal Claw. Them Henry finished off the Hawlucha with an Ember.

            Kyla ran after the retreating Larion and then struck him with another Force Palm.

            As the Larion turned to face Kyla, she saw that enemy reinforcements were incoming. A Legion Charmeleon was leading a large squad of Charmander towards Kyla and her allies.

            **In case you have not noticed, starter Pokémon are a whole lot more common in the ROC setting than they normally are.**  

            The enemies launched a barrage of embers at Kyla. Some of them connected with her, burning and scarring her.

            Kyla’s allies were trying to reach her as the Larion ran around her to try and run interference for his own allies.

            Kyla charged one of the Charmander, who was out in front and took him down with a Force Palm to the face as Marina used an Aura Sphere to dispatch the last Larion. Henry and Akira were still coming to try to help Kyla as a familiar voice called out, “Need some help?”

            Kyla, who had been distracted by combat, looked up to see an incoming Mud Bomb land and wipe out most of the Charmander. She saw that its origin was a Swampert wearing a Guild badge.

            **And enter Stephan, again.**

            As Kyla was about to say something, Delilah came charging in and brought down the Charmeleon with a Brick Break.

            The remaining Charmander started to flee, but Kyla used Force Palm on one of them and a Mud Shot from whom she assumed had to be Stephan brought another down.

            Akira used an Icy Wind to drop the last Charmander. And then, Kyla was able to breathe a sigh of relief. As she was trying to calm down after the battle, Stephan and Delilah, both shouted “Kyla!” as they, tackled and embraced her.

            **I love tackle-hugs. Some people call them Glomps. They call it that on TV Tropes.**

            Kyla shouted, “It’s so great to see you both, but where is Chadwick?”

            As Kyla’s friends disengaged their embrace Stephan began, “Well he is with the main force. We were sent to liberate the slaves and then we found all of you.”

            Delilah then said, “Stanford had to fill in for you. We managed to ambush and capture an Espeon and an Umbreon who were lieutenants in the Legion. A Hawlucha was guarding them. Then, we managed to fall back to the other expedition group with our prisoners.  Chad and I have also used the TM that his parents gave us.”

            **Maybe a tad more random exposition than was necessary there.**

            Stephan then interjected, “After taking our captives back to Riverton we learned a lot more about the Imperium. We managed to defend Riverton against The Legion’s assault soon after that. Then the Sheriff decided to mount a quick counter attack to free Eastharbor, and that is where we are now.”

            **Well, at least Kyla’s teammates are all right.**

            Akira was now with the group as Marina and Henry were going to the barracks to liberate the remaining slaves. Akira said, “It’s good to see you two. Are Shade and my younger brothers ok?”

            Stephan thought for a moment and then responded, “They are all fine. Your brothers are still guarding the Sheriff’s prison and Shade came with us on this attack along with the other Polumbos team and Rexford.”

            Akira looked very relieved and said, “Kyla, lets head into the town. Stephan, Delilah, why don’t you go help those two free some slaves from their inhibitors.”

            As Delilah and Stephan saluted them, Kyla and Akira walked through the smashed gate and into the town’s southern square. There, Rexford was reporting to Theodore, saying, “The Imperium’s Legion is in full retreat! They are using the town’s remaining rafts and barges to clear all of their military and civilian Pokémon out of the town.”

            **And good riddance, at least in the minds of the town’s Pokémon. Keep in mind that this was the first time that the Imperium had to retreat from an occupied settlement.**

            Theodore replied, “They seem awfully willing to abandon this town. Then again, we received some unexpected help from the local resistance. However, we will need to fortify this town further to prevent another naval assault in the future. Thankfully we were able to add the other town near here on the south bank to the alliance, they should be of great help here.”

              Then, Kyla and Akira walked into view. The other team from Polumbos also arrived in the southern square at the same time and Alina, who was now a Delphox, said, “Kyla, Akira, you are alive! We were so worried about you two!”

            Hans, who had evolved into a Fraxure said, “You know Kyla, even I was worried about what they would do to you. And you know that that is saying something.”

            **It really is, considering Kyla and Hans’ past relationship.**

            Chandra and Jacob also looked greatly relieved to see the pair. As Akira was walking up to Theodore, she was tackled to the ground and kissed by Shade. The two of them looked into each other’s eyes and Shade told Akira, “Thank Arceus you are alive, Akira. I never want to let you out of my sight again!”

            Akira sighed and kissed Shade again, saying, “I am really happy to see you too. I have to say, though, they did some pretty horrible things to me…”

            Shade got up, and then helped Akira up, he then told her, his voice trembling with emotion, “Whatever they did to you, I will help you recover. You mean too much to me for me to abandon you, no matter what!”

            **Well, that was emotional. Probably justified, though.**

            As Shade and Akira embraced, Theodore said, “You know Akira, you may be happy to hear that Rexford has done an amazing job as my second in command. I was talking with Shade, and we think that, if you agree, it would be best to keep him with me, and return you to the P.A.G. Your brothers will have to decide for themselves what they do. They have still made fine secondary deputies, and I hope they keep their jobs.”

            Akira grinned and said, “I am very comfortable with returning to the Guild. Thank you all!”

            Kyla had been stretching out her Aura Sense this whole time. She managed to find Chadwick’s aura at the back of the, now abandoned, Legion base. She said, “I will leave you all for the moment, I need to go find my boyfriend.”

            Kyla ran through town and into the Legion base. She passed by Stanford, who was on his way to find Stephan and had evolved into a Sceptile since the last time she had seen him. Kyla eventually found her way to the backyard of the base, there was a grey stone floor leading to a balcony overlooking the beech. She saw Chadwick, who was facing away from her and had not noticed her, watching what she assumed were the fleeing Imperium vessels.

            Kyla took a deep breath; she then smiled and said, “Hello handsome.”

            Chad immediately whirled around and saw Kyla smiling at him. She then rushed him and he opened him arms for her to leap into. Their lips met in a kiss that felt like it lasted an hour. After their kiss, both of them looked deeply into each other’s eyes and they both began crying tears of joy.

**They were worried sick about each other, so I think that their reactions are justified.**

            Chad then said, “Kyla… I could barely sleep for about two weeks, because I did not know what had become of you. Seeing you again… it brings the light back into my life. You have to tell me what happened to you since I last saw you!”

            Kyla still had tears running down her cheeks as she replied, “I was so afraid I would never see you again. I love you and I will tell you everything! Uh…you will be surprised by a lot of it, however.”

            **I left Chadwick learning about Geoffrey “off screen.” However, he is about to meet Kyla’s other parent.**

            As the two of them began to kiss again they both heard a female voice saying, “Well, look at you two lovebirds.”

            Chadwick put Kyla down as they both looked at Marina who was standing with her arms folded and a smile on her face.

            Kyla took Chad’s hand and said to him, “Chadwick, honey this is Marina.”

            Chadwick took almost no time to make the connection in his brain, his eyes got wide as his jaw dropped. He then rapidly recovered, walked over to Marina, calmly, and shook her hand, saying, “It is wonderful to meet Kyla’s mother. Your daughter has been a joy to be around, and as you may have seen, I do not know if I could live without her at this point.”

            **Chad seems to have experience in acting polite in awkward and random situations.**

            Marina looked up at Chadwick and said, “Well, I heard that you were a bit prejudiced against my daughter at first. But, Kyla tells me that you have been, for the most part, a loving and respectful romantic partner for her. I am very happy that you two have been reunited.”

            Kyla sensed immense relief in Chadwick as Marina told her, “Your friends Delilah and Stephan seemed quite happy to meet me as well. You seem very important to them.”

            Kyla smiled and then said, “Mother, as much as I love you, Chadwick and I have a lot to catch up on.”

            Marina smiled as the three of them returned to the southern square to be debriefed by Theodore.

            **Marina wants her daughter to be happy. She does not seem to think that Kyla and Chadwick will end up like her and Geoffrey.**

            That night there was much celebrating to be done in Eastharbor town. An agreement was drafted to have the town elect a new mayor post haste and to secure the town’s place as the newest part of the alliance. For Kyla, though, the main attraction that night was the time she spent with Chadwick. He and Kyla’s other close allies, including Shade, Rexford and Theodore heard the whole story of her captivity including the identity of her father and of the Emperor Mewtwo.

            **Taking Kyla alive ended up being a strategic mistake for the Imperium.**  

            Theodore actually expressed some worry about fighting a force led by a legendary Pokémon. However, he seemed determined to fight on.

            Shade was somewhat distressed by Mewtwo’s desire to capture Megapolis and said that he and Akira would depart for that city in the morning.

            That night Chadwick and Kyla did very little sleeping. Chad had decided to put off discussing Kyla’s father for the moment and the two of them fully enjoyed celebrating their reunion.

            **If you were in love with someone and had not seen him or her in a while, as well as being worried about him or her to distraction what else would you do upon being with them again?**

            The next morning the majority of the Alliance Militia Pokémon as well as Henry and Marina set off, for Riverton. Thanks to some barges, they were there in less than a week. After another day of travel Kyla, her team, Stanford, Marina, Henry, the other team, Theodore and Rexford among others were able to return to Polumbos Town. Kyla was able to sleep in her own bed with Chadwick as Marina and Henry rented room 208 from Chansey at her inn. Kyla still had her necklace, which her father had given her. She placed it in a drawer in her house’s bedroom.

            **She still loves her father, even if they are on opposing sides of a military conflict.**

            The next day, Akira and Shade were already off for Megapolis to start organizing the Pokémon there. While Chadwick was visiting his family, Delilah asked Kyla to have lunch with her, which Kyla agreed to.

            **Well, that concludes the Eastharbor Town sub-arc of the main plot. I will say that Kyla was always supposed to get captured in that arc and later be liberated by her allies. However, Geoffrey and Marina came into that plot arc later on in my mental planning. I think it turned out fine in the end.**


	26. Back in Polumbos Town

            Kyla and Delilah were sitting at a table in the café where they, along with Stephan, had first dined together. They had already ordered their food and were now awaiting its arrival.

            **I think that that café appearing again was a callback to the early story.**  

            As they were relaxing at their table, Delilah told Kyla, “You know, we all really appreciate having you safe and sound again. I thought that you should know that Rexford and I have begun to ‘go steady.’”

            Kyla looked very surprised and then thought for a moment, she then responded, “Well… to be honest, Delilah, that does not sound like you.”

            **Yeah, it really does not sound like her…**

            Delilah quickly responded by saying, “I know why you would think that. I usually never commit to anyone, but my parents really like him and he seems very ready to commit to me. So… I am going to give a serious relationship with him a chance.”

            **Ok, Delilah…**

            Kyla nodded and thought for a moment, she then replied, “Well, it’s your life, Delilah. I will support you no matter what.”

            **I like to think that her commitment to her friends is one of Kyla’s best qualities.**

            Delilah then smiled warmly at Kyla and said, “I appreciate your support. To be honest, I decided to commit to Rexford when I remembered how you grew up, with only one parent around, I would rather not go through that with my son or daughter.”

            **Ugh, that is probably about as conservative as this story gets…**

            Kyla gave Delilah a bit of a look and said, “Well, now I know what happened in my past. I know who my father is at this point. Also, I know why my mother fled him.”

            Delilah replied, “Sorry Kyla, I realize that I inadvertently insulted you. You told the entire team and our other allies about your father Geoffrey and the Imperium’s foundation on the trip back to Town. It has been nice to meet your mother, though. She seems like a good Pokémon and I hope she ends up happy with Henry.”

            **Delilah does not want to offend her old friend.**

            Kyla sighed and lowered her head to the table, she said, “To be honest, Delilah, I am a little annoyed about my mother being with someone other than my father. However, I know that it is pretty much impossible for my parents to be ever together again due to them now being on opposite sides of a war.”

            **At least she acknowledges it…**

            Delilah was about to reply when Kyla continued, “You know…I believe that there is good in my father. I think that if he was fully committed to the Imperium that he would have let them torture me for information. He might have wanted me to join his side, but I think he has the Imperium and its leader figured out wrong.”

            **Now, the Star Wars comparisons get stronger. If you have seen Episode VI: Return of the Jedi than you may remember how Luke Skywalker kept insisting that there was good in Darth Vader. Still, I would never suggest that my story is nearly as good as the any of the six original episodes of Star Wars. Yes, even the often-maligned prequels.**

            Delilah sighed and said, “Kyla, I like your mother and I think that she is happy with Henry. Your father is part of the enemy faction now and he, like all of them needs to be stopped!”

            Kyla replied, “I don’t think he is like the others. He does care for me. He gave me that necklace, which I showed you before. He is not really an evil Pokémon.”

            **I never listened to any ideas that suggested that Pokémon were supposed to be all good creatures. That would make them too boring. They need to have moral variety, in my opinion.**

            Delilah replied, as their food arrived, “I need to remind you that he allowed Akira to get tortured for four days. You are being blinded by the fact that he is your father! He seems quite loyal to the this Mewtwo and his vision of global conquest.”

            **Delilah has a point there…**

            Kyla thought for a moment and then said, as Delilah began to eat. She then sighed and said, “You could be right. My mother hates my father now, and maybe she is better off with another defector. All I know is that we need to stop Mewtwo regardless of what happens to my dad along the way! I won’t let that arrogant self-proclaimed ‘emperor’ win!”

            **When Kyla gets it in her head to do something, it usually gets done.**

            Delilah grinned and said, “That’s our Kyla! Now eat up, we need to get back to doing Guild work in the area soon, so we can train up for the battle to come.”

            Kyla nodded and dug into her food at Delilah’s suggestion.

            Over the next two weeks the team returned to Guild work as the militia buildup continued. They focused on securing the area from wild Pokémon attacks and the region’s remaining outlaws. This was all to make sure the Alliance Territory would be safe when its militia marched to Megapolis to meet The Legion in battle. The Espeon and Umbreon from the Imperium who had been captured were transferred from Riverton prison to the main Alliance Prison in between Polumbos Town and the outpost by Kyla’s team.

            **They obviously do not want any local-scale threats left hanging around when they go off to face the existential threat.**

            One evening, Kyla and Chadwick were walking home from dinner, which they had had with Marina. Henry was busy working to train the militia in tactics to use against The Legion. The young couple found Stephan in their way as they were walking through the town square.

            Stephan said, “Well there you two are. Mayor Armaldo has called a meeting with both of the local Guild teams in the church. Delilah should already be there.”

            Chadwick responded, “Ok, we will come. I wonder why the mayor decided to call a meeting on such short notice.”

            **As I keep saying, that is a good question…**

            Stephan shrugged his shoulders and then said, “Admittedly, the mayor has only invited the two Guild teams and mother Blissey to the meeting. Sabrina and Jonathan are not even supposed to come. Even though Jonathan was the one who told me and Delilah and asked me to find you two.”

            **Well, it must be top secret in that case.**

            Kyla then told Stephan, “Ok, we will come to the meeting. Chad, honey, lets’ find out what is going on there.”

               Chadwick, Kyla and Stephan walked to the church on the north side of town. Kyla knocked on the door, which was opened by mother Blissey, who ushered the group in. The trio walked up to the altar of the church where Mayor Armaldo appeared to be reading from mother Blissey’s ancient book. The other Polumbos team and Delilah were already in attendance.

            After the trio met up with Delilah and Mother Blissey walked over to Mayor Armaldo, there was an awkward and eerie silence. The church was mostly dark and only lit by a few candles, which were all currently positioned close to the altar.

            **Spooky…**

            Mayor Armaldo began, “Hello everyone, the reason that Mother Blissey and I requested you all come here will be revealed shortly. As you all must know, we are now at war with a force much larger than our own. I believe that the militia we have will not be strong enough to confront The Legion at Megapolis and hold them off, even with a strong defensive advantage. We were able to defeat the enemy’s army at Riverton and Eastharbor because we were dealing with only a small contingent of the Imperium’s forces. We, therefore, need an army of our own in order to win against this Mewtwo and his Legion of Pokémon.”

            At this point Hans asked, “Who would serve as our army? We do not have time to gather any more local towns except for the one between here and Megapolis to our side before the Legion arrives.”

            Everyone else except for Mother Blissey seemed as confused as Hans was. Armaldo then continued, “We have a potential army, the wild Pokémon. I know what you all are thinking, that there is no way we could recruit enough ‘wilds’ to our side in time, even with the threat of the Imperium hanging over us all. However, we have discovered a way, risky as it is.”

            **I wonder what that could be…**

            All eight Guild members in the room looked suspiciously at Armaldo, then Kyla asked him, “Mayor, you have called us here for what purpose? Why are you not telling the Sherriff about this plan you seem to have and, what exactly is your plan?”

            Armaldo sighed as Blissey stood by his side, he then said, “I did not think that Theodore would approve of sending you on the missions that I want to send you on. They are both highly risky, but with the potential for immense payoff.”

            **Are these Pokémon Black Ops? I did quite enjoy that sub series of COD games, actually. At least until it went multiplayer-only recently.**

            Chandra then shouted, “Mayor, just tell us already! What do you ask of us?”

            **The suspense was “killing” her…**

            Armaldo chuckled and then said, “First a little background… according to our Reverend Mother’s ancient book, this continent was once the site of a massive clash when the world was young. Two ancient Legendary Pokémon, Groudon and Kyogre, fought over control of the world. Kyogre was the incarnation of the sea and Groudon was the incarnation of the land. These two Pokémon marshaled armies of early Pokémon to wage a great battle. However, neither of them won. A section from this book is missing, however, we know that someone very powerful stopped the two legendary creatures’ war and sent them into their own domains to stay forevermore.”

            **If only they had known who that was in advance.**

            The assembled Guild Pokémon did not say anything as they waited for the elderly mayor to continue. He then did so, saying, “This book actually contains the possible current locations of Groudon and Kyogre, and they are surprisingly close to each other. I believe that Groudon is resting at the bottom of a cave to the east of here along the mountains and Kyogre is in an ancient sea cave on the eastern coast, just north of Eastharbor Town, actually.”

            **Why are they so close? …Maybe it’s because of plot convenience?**

            Chad interjected at this point, he said, “Sir, are you suggesting that we go and find these Legendary Pokémon. Assuming they are where you say they are, how would we convince them to help us stop Mewtwo and his Legion?”

            Armaldo sighed and replied, “According to the lore supplied by Mother Blissey, whoever forced the two to stop fighting was able to command them because they had beaten the two in battle. If one team can go to each place and seek out and defeat that legendary Pokémon, then we can command their allegiance and the allegiance of armies of wild Pokémon who will follow them. Kyogre could block the Legion’s navy with a massive fleet of Water Type Pokémon and Groudon could lead the wild Pokémon of the land to overwhelm the Legion at Megapolis. We could drive them to the north coast and then trap and destroy their forces!”

            **The idea of commanding their allegiance by defeating them is a reference to the concept of recruiting Pokémon that is a key part of the early PMD games. As to why I gave certain Legendary Pokémon the ability to command wild Pokémon with similar traits…I thought it would be cool and it worked for the story.**

            Everyone else just stared at Armaldo, Stephan then said, “What if we get killed trying to recruit these ancient beasts? They will not like outsiders in their domains. If you lose us, then you will stand even less of a chance against the Imperium’s military!”

            **Maybe Stephan was being a bit vain there…**

            Armaldo looked Stephan in the eyes and replied, “I know how big of a risk this is. If this plan fails then I will step down as mayor of Polumbos Town, if so desired by the alliance’s citizens. I know that this is a long shot, but it could turn the tide against our enemies! If I believed there was another route to building an army, then I would take it!”

            **Desperate times call for desperate measures.**  

            Stephan was quiet as Jacob asked, “So, can you give us maps to these places and any further instructions?”

            Armaldo smiled and replied, “You will all depart from the north gate tomorrow as early as you can, ideally undetected. Jacob, your team will try to reach and defeat Kyogre because it has you on it, a Grass Type. The other team will have to locate and defeat Groudon. If you are successful in your missions, then team one will have Kyogre’s Water Pokémon patrol the ocean around this continent in order to stop the Legion from moving units around using watercraft or Water Types. Team two will tell Groudon to begin gathering his land Pokémon and to begin moving them to Megapolis upon further instruction. Keep in mind that we believe that whoever lands the final blow on the Legendary Pokémon will be seen as his new master. So, that Pokémon will need to give orders or delegate them to someone else. That will be all for now.”

            **I should have had some Lapras show up in this series as transports. I mainly used primitive aquatic vehicles instead. I could have used both, though.**

            Both teams left the church without saying anything else. As Kyla was lying in bed that night with Chadwick already asleep she thought, “I hope to Arceus that this works. We will need a lot more help to bring Mewtwo down.” Kyla then drifted off to sleep.

            The next morning the two teams set off for the outpost. Once they reached their destination. Hans, Jacob, Chandra and a very nervous Alina set off for the coastal cave. At the same time, Kyla’s team set off along the southern edge of the mountains to find the cave that they believed would contain their target, Groudon.

            **Time for the team to explore a “Dungeon.” Despite this series using the PMD label, no Mystery Dungeons appear in it. Most readers have probably already realized that.**


	27. Going Spelunking

            Kyla and her team were walking parallel to the mountains when they saw what looked like a cave opening in the distance. As they sped up their walk to reach it, Kyla said, “Just so you all know, I used the Brick Break TM Chad’s parents gave us before we left Polumbos Town. I had it replace my old Quick Attack.”

            **Just so none of the readers were surprised when Kyla used that move.**  

            Everyone nodded in understanding, as they got closer to the cave. When the team reached the entrance, they noticed that it was over three times as tall as Chadwick, the tallest member of the team. The entrance was also far wider than all four of the team members combined.

            Chadwick then said, “Well everyone, this is probably the place. We need to try and get as far underground as we can and find Groudon… assuming he still exists.”

            **Well, Legendary Pokémon are immortal… At least they cannot die from old age. In this setting, they can still be killed from intense violence.**

            Delilah then added, “If we die on the Mayor’s suicide mission, then I don’t think my parents will be happy. All I’m saying is that this better work.”

            **Delilah is such a rich girl. She should probably be more concerned with her own life and those of her friends.**

            Stephan then mentioned, “I am more concerned about seeing Stanford again, to be honest.”

            As the team entered the cave Kyla said, “I think we can survive this, we have been through a lot together. As for me, I need to see my mother again, now that we have been re-united.”

            The team then entered the massive cave and began to walk deeper inside it. As the team got past the point where sunlight ceased to light the cave, it started to slope downward. The team did not see any wild Pokémon in the area, but something caught Delilah’s eye. She then pointed to the cave’s walls and said, “That does not make any sense, there are glowing veins of lava in the walls of the cave. We are not near any volcanoes and also we are not that far underground.”

            Stephan then said, “That lava is lighting the area. And it’s not flowing out of the walls. That is completely unnatural.”

            Kyla replied, “I know what you mean, maybe this shows that Armaldo and Blissey were on to something when they sent us here.”

            **Strange supernatural effects can occur in the lairs of certain Legendary Pokémon in my setting.**

            The team spent what felt like a few hours continuing to walk through the cave, the lava veins in the walls continued to flow and the soil in the cave’s walls eventually turned to more solid stone. The team reached a spot where the tunnel opened up into a more open area. A pair of Muk “stood” in front of the opening. They rapidly detected the Intruders and glared at them.

            Chadwick said, “I do not think they are friendly,” As the Muk hurled a pair of Mud Bomb’s at the team.

            The moves impacted and Kyla was severely injured, as was Delilah. Chad and Stephan seemed better off after the attacks hit, then Kyla and Delilah were.

            Chadwick wasted no time rushing one of the Muk and throwing him with a Seismic Toss.

            When the Muk landed, Delilah ran in behind Chad and sniped him with an ember, dealing further damage.

            Stephan used a Mud Shot on the other Muk as Kyla charged in to slash the foe with a Metal Claw.

            The two Muk then backed up, one of the used Mud Slap on Chadwick, hitting him in the eyes and forcing him to try to clear the mud off.

            The second Muk tried to do the same thing to Kyla, who dodged the move.

            Chad missed with a Brick Break against his foe as Kyla delivered another vicious strike with Metal Claw against her target.

            After the Muk Chad had missed evaded an Ember from Delilah. Stephan said, “I think I can hit both of them now.”

            Stephan then threw a Mud Bomb, which collided with the ground and detonated on both of the enemies, knocking them both out.

            **That was a nice shot…**

            As Stephan smiled proudly, Chad removed the last of the mud from his eyes, he then said, “It’s great to have the whole team together again. Now, lets’ rest a bit and then see what we can find in that open area.”        

            After the team was rested, they advanced into the open part of the cave. Kyla was sure that they were far underground at that point. Lava veins lit the whole of a massive room, which was filled with wild Pokémon, most of which did not even notice the intruders. The team saw what appeared to be massive hole in the far wall and started walking towards it.

            **This cave was based on the Magma Cavern Dungeon from the first PMD game. That place scared me so much as a kid. I thought it was like a Pokémon version of hell.**

            As the team reached the center of the underground cavern a pair of Rhydon charged them. Delilah nervously said, “Those are not the pair of Rhydon who work as apprentices in town!”

            As the Rhydon approached the team, Stephan grinned and then blasted one of them with a Water Gun.

            The Rhydon recoiled as Chadwick rushed his ally. The other Rhydon took a Brick Break to the stomach. A Mach Punch then struck the same Rhydon, having come from Delilah.

            Kyla moved in to cover Stephan and intercepted the charging Rhydon. She took a Horn Attack, which did not heavily injure her. And then countered with a Force Palm, which did not paralyze her foe, but severely weakened him. 

            The other Rhydon used a Fury Attack and gored Chadwick multiple times. Chad then tried to hit his foe with a Brick Break, but his attack bounced off of the Rhydon’s skin.

            Chadwick then moved to the side as Stephan blasted the foe in the face with a Water Gun. Delilah then finished off the stunned Rhydon with another Mach Punch.

            Kyla then punched her foe in the stomach with a Brick Break. Realizing his inability to severely hurt Kyla, the Rhydon ran past her and gored Delilah with a Horn Attack.

            **At least he can pick his targets decently.**

            Stephan then used another Water Gun on the remaining Rhydon. Chadwick then flanked the Rhydon with Delilah and used a Seismic Toss to fling his foe into the air. When the Rhydon came back to the ground, he fainted from the impact.

            **Chadwick and Delilah both got a +2 bonus to their attack rolls. That was a D &D 3.5 reference…**

            Stephan then confidently said, “I feel very useful down here, these Pokémon are all weak to my attacks.”

            **Even though I did not pay too much attention to party roles, D &D 3.5 is actually the game I got the idea for four-member teams from, actually. I have never really played any other edition.**

            As the team continued on their way to the other side of the cavern they felt the ground start to shake. As the ground continued to tremble, the team members all ran for the entrance on the other side of the cave. Before they could make it, a pair of Steelix burst out of the ground in front of them and immediately attacked.

            One of the Steelix flung a Rock at Delilah using Rock Throw, which struck her in the chest.

            **It seems that I was pinpointing where attacks hit again.**

            The other Steelix then blasted Stephan with a Dragon Breath to the face.

            As Delilah and Stephan were recovering from their hits, Chadwick and Kyla nodded to each other and each of them rushed a Steelix.

            **Kyla and Chadwick fit the TV Trope “Battle Couple” very well.**

            Chad used a Brick Break on his Steelix, who recoiled back from the punch. At the same time, Kyla used her own Brick Break on the Steelix she was fighting, injuring him as well.

            Stephan and Delilah then turned to Kyla’s foe and hit him with an Ember and a Water Gun. The Steelix remained conscious and then burrowed deep underground. The other Steelix then blasted Chadwick with a second Dragon Breath.

            Chad then shouted, “Everyone, focus on the who has not burrowed underground!”

            **How could they hit the one who burrowed underground anyway?**

            The entire team turned to the Steelix and then rushed at him. The massive Pokémon was still able to dodge Stephan and Delilah’s ranged attacks. Chad and Kyla then charged forward. Chad used a Karate Chop on the foe as Kyla used her running start to leap into the air and Force Palm the Steelix in the face. The Force Palm finally brought the giant Pokémon crashing down.

            **Head-Palm!**

            As Kyla landed she felt relieved. Then, she was struck from behind as the other Steelix burst out of the ground and unleashed his Dig move on her.

            The hit connected and Kyla felt herself fading. Chad glared at the Steelix and used a Seismic Toss on the massive snake, Chad’s immense strength allowed him to lift the foe out of the ground and then bring him back down with a great crash. The Steelix fainted from hitting the ground.

            With another batch of enemies defeated Kyla said, “We should go for the opening. The other wild Pokémon almost certainly would have heard those big creatures go down! Also, now that we are this close, I can sense one new aura, unlike any other I have felt before.”

            **I think that a whole lot of those other wild Pokémon would have heard that crash!**

            Chadwick then nodded and shouted, “Lets move, team!”

            The entire team hauled ass to the entrance in the cavern wall. As they were running for the rear of the cavern, they saw that a massive number of wild Pokémon had detected them and were trying to chase the intruders down. Kyla felt the anger in the wild Pokémon’s auras as the team ran through the entrance.

            **This time, there was a swear word in the narration…**

            The group of wild Pokémon stopped following the fleeing team once they ran through the cavern entrance. Kyla felt fear replacing anger in their auras.

            As the team ventured into the new section of cavern the magma streams suddenly started to solidify, cutting the light from the area.

            Kyla then nervously said, “Everyone, that aura I mentioned earlier is right in front of us!”

            **Dunt…dunt…dunt!**

            The Magma streams flared to life and suddenly what seemed like sunlight filled the chamber. Only a single massive Pokémon stood before the team.

            Delilah shouted, “It’s Groudon! It has to be!”

            The huge Pokémon looked down at the team and growled, “Who are you. I have not seen outsiders to this domain in…. longer than any of you have lived.”

            **He is ageless, after all. I wonder if Legendary Pokémon in my setting have to eat? Maybe they just do it for pleasure when they can?**

            Kyla stepped forward and told the colossal bipedal Legendary, “Groudon, we have come to request your service! We…”

            Groudon chuckled at Kyla and interrupted her by saying, “Whoever you are, you will not leave this place. You might know who I am, and I will admit that you are brave to have come this far to face me. However, if you want my service you will have to defeat me, one of this world’s most ancient creatures. You will fail and you will never see the sun again!”

            Groudon unleashed a mighty roar and then unleashed a tremor through the ground. The tremor turned out to be an Earth Power move, which blasted the entire team with plumes of earth.

            **That may have been a bit redundant.**

            Chadwick shouted, “Everyone use your strongest attacks! Bring this monster down!”

               Kyla and Chad rushed Groudon; they both hit him with Brick Break attacks. However, the massive Legendary barely flinched.

**This is the prose fiction equivalent of a boss fight…Of course, so far Sableye, Onix and Magenzone would all also qualify in my opinion.**

            Stephan hit Groudon with a Water Gun; however, the strong light around him reduced the effect of the attack.

            **That was the result of Groudon’s drought ability.**

            Delilah’s Ember also hit Groudon. The light seemed to strengthen the fire, causing more severe injury to him.

            Groudon then surrounded himself with a ring of rocks and then flung them at Delilah, she went unconscious from the Ancient Power move.

            Stephan shouted, “Delilah is out! Should I try to revive her?”

            Kyla shouted back, “Keep blasting him!”

            Chadwick used Karate Chop on Groudon, and Kyla followed up with a Force Palm. Stephan then fired off another Water Gun into Groudon, who looked weakened, but still easily able to fight.

            Groudon then began to charge up a ball of green energy.

            Kyla then struck Groudon with a Metal Claw and then Chadwick tried to Seismic Toss Groudon, but he stepped back to avoid the move.

            **That would have been impressive if Chad had been able to use a Seismic Toss on Groudon. Think about how strong he would have to be. Then again, he just Seismic Tossed a Steelix.**  

            Stephan fired another Water Gun into Groudon, but the Legendary Pokémon simply grinned at Stephan and said, “Drop.”

            Groudon unleashed his Solar Beam, which connected and easily blasted Stephan unconscious.

            Kyla and Chadwick looked nervously at each other as they saw Stephan go down.

            Chadwick then turned back to their enemy and nailed Groudon in the face with a Karate Chop.

            The legendary Pokémon looked weakened, but started to focus and said, “Now for the two of you. Taste the power of my precipice blades!”

            **I ignored Primal Reversions for this series, but I did use the new Signature Moves for the Generation III legendary version mascots.**

            Kyla felt the ground tremble and then, desperate to survive the battle, delivered one last Brick Break to Groudon’s stomach. The massive Pokémon then shut his eyes and collapsed before the earthen spikes could emerge from the ground.  

            Kyla smiled and said, “Or not. Damn, I am glad I used that TM!”

            **Another swear word…**

            Chadwick and Kyla looked directly into each other’s eyes and then embraced and kissed, happy to be alive.

            Chadwick then said, “You did it darling! Now, lets’ get the other two conscious.”

            Kyla and Chadwick got out the toolbox and used two Reviver Seeds to get Stephan and Delilah back up.

            Delilah then started to glow brightly. She then evolved from Monferno to Infernape.

            **In my setting, you can faint in a fight and still gain experience when it is won. Otherwise, how would she have evolved?**

            Kyla smiled at Delilah and said, “At least you no longer look like my old gang boss.”

            Stephan asked, “What happened?”

            Chad replied, “Kyla managed to defeat Groudon here. Now we just need him to wake up.”

            Kyla said, “Those other wild Pokémon are still too afraid to come in here, I think it is out of reverence for Groudon. They probably do not know that he is unconscious.”

            Delilah replied, “If they are scared of him, then they should be very scared of us since we defeated him.”

            **Even though half of their team got knocked out.**

            After the rest of the team agreed to what Delilah had said, the group took some time to rest as they awaited Groudon’s awakening. After what felt like hours, the ancient beast stirred.

            As Groudon lifted himself up he looked down at Kyla and her teammates. The massive Pokémon then sighed and bowed to her, saying, “You won, not at all what I expected. As I did in the past, I must submit to your courage and strength. Now, my lady, what is it that you wish. I know that you wanted my service.”

            Kyla, realizing that since she landed the final blow, that Groudon was referring to her, said, “We have come here because a vast group of Pokémon, calling themselves the Imperium, led by a Legendary Pokémon calling himself Mewtwo, are threatening to force this continent under their control. We want you to raise the wild Pokémon of the land into an army and lead them into battle alongside us to stop his Legion. We will release you from this service once Mewtwo and his Imperium are stopped.”

            Groudon thought for a moment and then replied, “I have never heard of a Legendary Pokémon called Mewtwo. Regardless, if that is what you wish, then I will begin to marshal the wild Pokémon of the land under my control into a force, which will march to fight this ‘Legion’ when you are ready. Since you have proven yourselves to me, you will be welcome in my domain. You may rest here and my servants will allow you to leave in peace when you all are ready.”

**The supposed suicide mission was ultimately a success.**

            The team members, all greatly relieved by their victory and Groudon’s compliance, bowed to him. 

            The team rested the night in the deep cave and then left the next day. They found themselves back at the outpost soon after that. Then they having, against their own expectations, accomplished what they set out to do, set off from the outpost to Polumbos Town.

            On the way back, before they reached the Sherriff’s prison, they saw a group of militia Pokémon heading to the outpost. After they passed that group, they walked past the prison and kept on going, intent on reaching Polumbos Town that evening.

            **Another chapter down, we are now on approach to the main conflict with the Imperium.**


	28. Air Raid

            As Kyla and her team were on approach to Polumbos Town Stephan mentioned, “You know everyone, I saw Hans and Chandra holding hands while we were all walking to the outpost. Are they together now?”

            Chadwick replied, “Probably, Hans actually asked me for romantic advice at the party for Jacob and Bailey.”

            Kyla laughed and exclaimed, “I cannot believe it, but it’s hilarious! Hans asking for advice from my boyfriend!”

            **It is kind of funny.**  

            Stephan then said, “You all know, I still harbor resentment for Hans. I don’t believe I will ever forgive him for trying to beat up Kyla and for his antagonism towards her before that.”

            Delilah sighed and then said, “You know, our antagonism towards Hans sort of mirrors his treatment of Kyla. Ironic, isn’t it?”

            **That was a point that I definitely wanted to make, even if it did not really impact the overall story.**

            The rest of the team went completely silent after Delilah finished her statement. Kyla then replied, “You know, I never thought of it that way… do you all see fires coming from Polumbos Town?”

            The rest of Kyla’s team looked to Polumbos Town where they saw a couple fires burning into the sky.

            Chadwick’s eyes narrowed as he said, “Lets move, it could be the Imperium’s Legion!”

            **I assume that most of my readers thought that it would be the Legion Air Scouts…**

            The team charged toward town and reached the north entrance very quickly. Once they entered the town they saw a series of swarms of aerial Pokémon attacking the town’s buildings and residents. However, not a single one of the airborne Pokémon was wearing one of the Imperium’s sashes.

            **However, it was not the Imperium’s forces.**

            Delilah said, “I do not think these Pokémon are with the Legion. I wonder who they are then?”

            Chadwick replied, “It doesn’t really matter! Lets just get to the town square and see who we can find!”

            As the team ran toward the town hall down the northern street they saw a Pidgeot flying toward them. The Pidgeot was clutching a round stone, which Kyla realized was very similar to the one that Mewtwo had had around his neck. The Pidgeot grabbed the stone tightly and it flashed with energy. A shell of energy surrounded the Pidgeot and when it faded his body had moderately changed its appearance.

            Stephan’s jaws dropped as he said, “My dad told me about the legends, of Pokémon who could change their forms temporarily. Those legends are true after all! It’s Mega-Evolution!”         

            **Stephan was being such a ham when he said that.**

            The Mega-Pidgeot unleashed a Twister on the team, blasting them all.

            Kyla shouted, “I do not care what he has done to himself! This is our home and we are taking him down!”

            **Determination is one of Kyla’s most obvious personal qualities. She never does give up easily.**    

            As the Mega-Pidgeot swooped in, Stephan blasted him with a Hydro Pump, shouting, “I have got a new ‘toy’ myself!”

            Delilah then followed up with an Ember as the Mega-Pidgeot flew past the team.

            As the Mega-Pidgeot was getting into position to attack again, Kyla jumped up at him and slashed him with a Metal Claw.

            As the Mega-Pidgeot was about to unleash a Gust on the Team, Chadwick ran up to him and used a Seismic Toss to throw him to the ground, which knocked him out.

            **I had Seismic Toss be usable in a few ways throughout the series. They all involved throwing the user’s enemy at something or just up into the air.**

            I was not long until the defeated and unconscious Pidgeot reverted to his normal form. Then, Delilah suggested, “Lets’ keep going before more of them show up.”

            The team successfully reached the town hall and saw that many of the town’s residents had formed a perimeter around the center of town, but they were having trouble with their enemies easily flying above the perimeter and avoiding short-range attacks.

            As the team made it past the perimeter and continued towards the town hall they ran into Hans and his team who had come through the southern entrance.

            Jacob asked, “Do you guys have any idea who these Pokémon are? We are back because we were actually successful in our mission! We found Kyogre, I finished him off in our fight. He promised that his aquatic Pokémon will patrol the seas to prevent Legion reinforcements from navigating the ocean.”

            **That was probably an awkward time for more exposition.**

            Chandra than added, “We took down a Charizard that had the ability to change its appearance and became more formidable before we got to the perimeter.”

            Stephan said, “We were also successful. We took down Groudon and his army of land Pokémon will be able to help us.”

            Alina then looked up and said, “We need to focus on now, everyone. …Also, guys, what is that thing coming out of the sky?”

            Almost like a meteor, a streak of green crashed into the town hall’s roof.  The other hostile flying Pokémon immediately in flew over the perimeter and stuck close to the ground, creating a new perimeter of their own.

            **It’s a perimeter wrapped in a perimeter.**

            They all heard a scream that sounded like Mayor Armaldo coming from the hall as a new, strong, male voice said, “You villain, you did not think I would find out? What ever you are planning, it will fail tonight!”

            Armaldo was flung out of a third-floor window. He was just barely able to get up and off the ground as a huge green snake-dragon burst out of the walls of the town hall and floated to the ground. Hans and his team immediately positioned themselves between the flying snake and the mayor.

            **Armaldo is pretty well armored, after all. Like in the canon PMD games, prehistoric Pokémon never went extinct in my setting. They have just existed for longer than most species.**

            Hans shouted to Kyla’s team, “Get the mayor out of here. We will hold this monstrosity off!”

            The green snake hovered above the town square and declared, “So be it then! If you will defend that schemer, then you will all fall before I finish him!”

            As Hans led his team against the massive Pokémon, Kyla and her team surrounded the mayor. Chad helped Armaldo up as they prepared to escort him through the enemy perimeter to their allies on the other side. However, a unit of four Aerodactly rushed in at the team, every one of them clutched a Mega-Stone and they all activated their Mega-Evolutions at once.  

            **Yay, more prehistoric Pokémon! I really loved those when I was a kid. My favorite Pokémon was honestly Kabuto. Now, of course, it’s Lugia. I want them to make an Ankylosaurus Pokémon at some point, since that is my favorite dinosaur.**

            Armaldo said, “I have no clue who these Pokémon are, that huge flying beast must be their commander, though!”

            Kyla’s team braced as the four Mega-Aerodactly came at them. They all fired off Ancient Power moves at the team, each member being hit once, and then started to circle at low altitude.

            Kyla laughed as she was barely harmed by the hit. Delilah took the most injury from the strike on her, as Stephan and Chadwick only withstood moderate injury.

            Chadwick then leaped into the air and used Seismic Toss to down a Mega-Aerodactly in one shot by slamming him into the ground.

            **That move is almost overpowered in my setting… If not actually overpowered.**

            Delilah struck another foe with a Mach Punch. He was then finished by one of Stephan’s Hydro Pump attacks.

            Kyla waited for a foe to pass close to her and then, she struck him with a Brick Break.

            Two Mega-Aerodactly were still left in the fight. Chadwick and Delilah each took a Wing Attack from their foes as they flew by.

            Chadwick tried to use another Seismic Toss, but his target evaded it. Delilah then hit the foe that Kyla had harmed with a Mach Punch. Stephan, once again, used a Hydro Pump to finish off the foe.

            **Only one left now…**

            Kyla missed the last Mega-Aerodactly with a Force Palm and he then used another Ancient Power on Delilah successfully.

            Delilah quickly countered with Mach Punch and then Chad followed with a leaping Karate Chop. Then, Stephan hit with a Hydro Pump and, finally, Kyla downed the foe with a successful Force Palm to the face.

            **That is a lot of hits to take down only one hostile Pokémon.**

            The team got past the enemy perimeter as they saw another Mega-Pidgeot coming at them. However, an Aura Sphere and a Flamethrower shot him out of the sky, leaving him conscious on the ground. The attacks had come from Marina and Henry. Then, Stanford ran in and knocked the foe out with a Leaf Blade cut to the head.

            The team and their allies looked over to the town hall where the now Mega-Evolved enemy leader had knocked out Jacob. They then saw Alina fall to a rapid charging attack. However, then they saw Hans leap into the air and detonate a Dragon Pulse to finally knock out the flying dragon, who hit the ground with a dramatic thud.

            **The charging attack was Dragon Ascent.**

            Seeing their leader downed, the swarms of flying Pokémon all rapidly fled into the sky. The two Guild teams and the other residents of Polumbos Town walked up to the defeated dragon-snake.

            Mother Blissey then arrived from the church, with Sabrina in tow and said, “I have seen this Pokémon, briefly, in my book. This is Rayquaza, the ancient incarnation of the skies created by Arceus in the distant past. I wonder why he led a massed attack on our town though?”

            Hans then declared, “Well, if this is a Legendary Pokémon like Groudon and Kyogre, then I defeated him and he needs to answer to me for what he has done. By the way, which one of you took Groudon down?”

            Kyla raised a hand and Hans could not help but face palm as Chandra patted him on the back. As the evening wore on, the fainted defenders of Polumbos, including Jacob and Alina, were brought back up with Reviver Seeds as they awaited the awakening of the Legendary Rayquaza.

            **Of course Hans feels upset when Kyla succeeds.**

            Kyla’s mother Marina was deeply impressed to hear that her daughter had been able to defeat Groudon in combat, even though her friends dealt most of the previous blows. Also, Kyla and her teammates learned that after beating Kyogre, the legendary Pokémon had allowed them to ride him through an underground aquatic passageway that took them to the ocean. Then, they had gone to Riverton, where they had disembarked and walked back to Polumbos Town.

             The town’s strongest Pokémon gathered around the unconscious Rayquaza, forming a close perimeter to ensure he could not easily escape once awake. After a few hours, the Legendary Pokémon began to stir. Rayquaza woke up and then glared at his victorious foes, he then said, “You are all much stronger than I suspected. I might have lost, but you need to realize that you are tampering with forces outside of your control by trying to use Groudon and Kyogre for whatever your plot is.”

            **There may have been a misunderstanding here…**

            Hans then said, “Ok, Rayquaza, listen here! We have our reasons for awakening those other two Legendary Pokémon! Now, how did you know what we were doing? I defeated you, so you need to listen to me!”

            Rayquaza glared and Hans and then replied, “I will tell you what you want to know because I am both vastly outnumbered here and my allies and servants have fled, for now. For one thing, I have many flying spies, who keep watch over the domains of Groudon and Kyogre. They alerted me to your groups moving in on their locations. I realized that since you were reported as having worn similar badges you were all likely working in concert. I had my spies pretend to be travelers or harmless wild Pokémon to trace you back to this settlement. A couple of my Pidgey were spying on the town church when they overheard your Blissey talking about a plan to recruit Groudon and Kyogre by this town’s mayor with her assistant. I believed that you all were planning something sinister with the aid of the two ancient creatures and as such planned this pre-emptive strike on this settlement.”

            Mayor Armaldo stepped forward to confront Rayquaza, he then said, in earshot of everyone there, “Yes, I made the, so far successful, plan to recruit the incarnations of the land and sea to our cause. But, I did it because we face a far greater foe who is determined to stay on a path of conquest that would destroy our alliance’s right of self-determination. Another Legendary Pokémon, named Mewtwo, has built an empire and an army and is trying to conquer this whole planet. We have two of his minor officers in our prison, if you wish to speak to them. I only ordered the missions to obtain help from Groudon and Kyogre because I knew we needed a way to fight back effectively against Mewtwo’s Legion.”

            **That was a sort of public confession on his part. However, his plan succeeded. Mayor Armaldo was meant to be a somewhat morally grey character, actually.**

            Stephan then stepped forward and asked, “You can see the Espeon and Umbreon that we captured, but can you also tell us where you found all those Mega-Stones for your Flying Pokémon?”

            Rayquaza nodded and said, “Perhaps I may have acted in haste. However, I will interrogate your prisoners and if you are being truthful in your claim of needing self-defense I will also assist you with my forces as an apology. And, yes, as should be obvious, I do know where the Mega-Stones can be found.”

             As tensions began to release in Polumbos Town a deal was made with Rayquaza, he would stay in the town and keep an eye on Mayor Armaldo for the night while everyone else slept. At the same time, Rayquaza was not to summon any more flying Pokémon to aid him until he saw the captured Espeon and Umbreon in Theodore’s prison.

            **Presumably some Legendary Pokémon have limited telepathy with mortal Pokémon similar to them. Many of them just command the respect of mortal Pokémon. In the sequel, I started referring to some Legendary Pokémon with noble titles such as Sir, Lady and Lord.**  

            The next morning, Kyla’s team was assembled. It was decided that since Rayquaza felt less threatened by them, that they would lead him to the prison where he would talk to the two Legion captives being held there. Kyla and her team did as they had been instructed while Hans and his team helped clean up the damage done to Polumbos by the airborne attack.

            That afternoon, Kyla, her team and Rayquaza arrived at the warehouse-prison. The two Sneasel brothers were on guard duty at the time with a small number of volunteers. Thankfully, a Pelipper messenger from the Guild office had arrived at the prison earlier that day to warn the guards about who was going to visit.

            **That would have been terrifying, or at least awkward, otherwise.**

            With Kyla and her team standing at the entrance, Rayquaza managed to fit his snakelike body through the opened double doors. Kyla and her allies waited for what felt like an hour until the doors opened up again and Rayquaza came back outside.

            The Legendary Pokémon looked down at the team and then began, “I spoke with your two prisoners. They confirmed what you have claimed about this ‘Imperium.’ They were quite arrogant actually. They said that their Legion was stronger than any other force in our world and that even other Legendaries could not stop their emperor.”

            Chadwick replied, “Those two were talking like that when we first interrogated them, they are both quite confident in their army’s combat prowess.”

            **As arrogance was Mewtwo’s main flaw, many who served him suffered from the same flaw.**

            Rayquaza then responded, “Well then, we will need to do something to prove them wrong. As an apology for my unprovoked attack on your settlement, I will begin to rally as many flying Pokémon as I can. I will send some Pidgey to your town that you can use to send a message to me when you are ready to march against the Legion. Also, there is a grotto in the nearby mountain range where the Mega-Stones are mined. If you go there to obtain some for yourselves, beware, there are many guardian Pokémon who will try to force you to flee in order to test your might. Of course, the tests do not apply to a Legendary Pokémon like myself and those who follow me. I will have one of my Pokémon deliver a map to the grotto to your Guild office.”

            The relieved team members all saluted Rayquaza who saluted them back and then flew off into the sky and out of sight. The team then returned to town. After helping with some rebuilding and resting the night, the next day they were called in to the Guild office where Sunflora had received the map to the grotto from a Pidgeotto in the service of Rayquaza.

            **And now Mega-Evolution has appeared in this series. It becomes more prominent in the sequels and the prequel.**


	29. Mega-Mons

            **The title of this chapter is based on Mega Man, even though I never even played one of those games.**

            Both of the teams from Polumbos Town were squeezed into the Guild office. Sunflora began the briefing by saying, “Good to see you all here. I should start by letting you all know that we have received a message from Megapolis saying that the Guild’s scouts believe that The Legion is less than a week away from reaching the city’s northern outskirts. As such, the Alliance Militia is going to march to Megapolis very shortly. In fact, Rexford and a large portion of the militia had already left before Rayquaza’s attack.”

            Stephan then asked, “Speaking of Rayquaza, what about the Mega-Stones’ location?”

            Sunflora responded, “Yes, about that. The grotto is only around a days walk from the outpost, maybe less. I was told that there are two caves that contain the stones. A team will go to each of the caves. Apparently, the guardians only allow a number of stones to be removed equal to the number of Pokémon who enter the cave. This is thankfully regardless of whether or not they can personally utilize the stones.”

            Then Kyla interrupted, asking, “So, which ones of us can utilize those stones?”

            Sunflora said, “According to the list I was given… of the Pokémon here there are: Stephan, Jacob and Kyla. Also, Stanford can Mega-Evolve even though he isn’t a permanent Guild member. And Kyla’s mother Marina should be able to as well, since she and Kyla are the same species. Since we think that the Imperium has access to Mega-Stones, from the information Kyla has given us, we will want you all to bring back as many as you can.”

            **The Alliance wants to try and negate one of the Imperium’s tactical advantages.**

            Delilah then asked, “What about Groudon and his forces? We will need them to join us if we want to win the upcoming battle.”

            Sunflora nodded and said, “Well, Delilah, your team will be going to the cave to inform Groudon that we need his forces to march now after you retrieve your Mega-Stones. You all need to get moving to the outpost now. Good luck with everything, I will be here of course, awaiting news of what occurs.”

            **Even when things get as desperate as they are now, Sunflora stays in her Guild office. She never fights in this story.**

            The two teams joined with the large militia contingent marching from Polumbos Town up to the outpost. They arrived at the outpost the next morning and then, while most of the militia began to march over the mountain pass, they followed the map given to them by Sunflora to the grotto. The path into the mountain’s foothills split in two and the two teams split up. Hans and his team went left and Kyla and her team went right.

            **I just picked the directions randomly, I assume.**

            Kyla’s team eventually reached an open area with a river flowing through it and a cave in the center. A grassy plain covered the remainder of the area. As they started walking toward the cave, a pair of Blazeiken appeared from behind some trees and charged the group. As they got closer they both grabbed their Mega-Stones tightly and Mega- Evolved.

            **For Mega-Evolution in this story, I used the stones from the core games without the trainer’s keystones. I also made it so that there was no limit on the number of Pokémon who could Mega-Evolve in a particular battle.**

            Chadwick shouted to his team, “Those must be some of the guardians!”

             The two guardian Mega-Blazeiken stopped their charge when they were within a medium distance from the team. Then, both of them unleashed Flamethrower attacks at the team. Kyla was blasted by one of them and she recoiled back in pain. Chadwick received the other Flamethrower.

            Stephan immediately retaliated by firing a Mud Bomb into the pair of enemies. They both withstood the strike and glared at Stephan.

            **There is quite a bit of glaring in this story.**  

            Chadwick rushed at one of the Mega-Blaziken and attempted a Seismic Toss, however, the foe flipped backwards and evaded the attack.

            Then, Delilah rushed at the other foe and nailed him with a Mach Punch.

            Then Kyla said, “Delilah, cover me! My mother has finally taught me how to do…this!” She placed her two palms close to each other and focused her aura, creating a ball of blue light. She then flung the orb at the Mega-Blaziken who Delilah was fighting. The Aura Sphere impacted the target who recoiled back in pain and then returned fire with a Flamethrower. Kyla was badly injured at that point, but she remained conscious.

            **Finally, Kyla has learned Aura Sphere. It took almost thirty chapters!**

            The other Mega-Blaziken rushed past Chadwick and Kyla and used a Slash on Stephan, which cut into his face.

            **I believe that that was a critical hit on Stephan.**

            Chadwick moved into position to flank Stephan’s attacker. He used a Karate Chop attack to weaken the enemy as Stephan backed up and then blasted the Mega-Blaziken with a Hydro Pump, causing the foe to faint.

            The remaining Mega-Blaziken withstood another hit from Delilah’s Mach Punch. Kyla then ran up to the Mega-Blaziken and punched him in the face with a Brick Break.

            The Mega-Blaziken stumbled back, and then tried to knock Kyla out with a Blaze Kick. However, Kyla quickly grabbed the foes leg and shoved it away, this left him open for Stephan to finish him off with a Mud Shot.

            **I wonder how she shoved a flaming leg away?** **Maybe she only gripped it for a brief moment.**

            Delilah said, “Ok everyone, that is one group of Guardians down. Lets’ move to the cave.”

            The team advanced on the cave in the center of the grotto. As Kyla stretched out her Aura Sense to try and locate any foes in the cave, Stephan said, “Stanford should be with the militia in the outpost. I have promised him a Mega-Stone from this place as a gift.”

            Chadwick mentioned, “Hey, Stephan, didn’t you mention someone having told you about Mega Evolution?”

            Stephan replied, “It was my father. He told me the legends when I was very young. I have not seen him since my family disowned me.”

            **Mega-Evolution being a legend when the grotto was so close might have been bad world building on my part.**

            Kyla, Chad and Delilah all nodded as they reached the cave’s entrance. Chadwick then asked Kyla, “What do you sense in that cave. Who is down there, if anyone?”

            Kyla stopped focusing her Aura Sense and then told her team, “There is a cluster of auras not far into the cave, my senses do not extend to much farther in.”

            Chad said, “Lets go inside, but be careful. Those auras are probably another squad of guardians.”

            The team walked into the cave and then saw that there were a series of crystals in the walls lighting the cave. It was not long until the team arrived at a place where the cave began to slope downwards. At that point they encountered six Houndour being led by a Houndoom.

            The Houndoom said, “So, you have made it this far. The Blaziken did not stop you. Well then, face us and win and you will be able to advance to the final set of guardians!”

            **They just tipped the team off to the fact that there are only three sets of guardians there.**  

            The Houndoom then gripped a Mega-Stone with one of his paws and Mega Evolved. The Mega Houndoom breathed out an Inferno attack onto the whole team. Stephan and Delilah were not severely effected. However, Chadwick received moderate damage and Kyla screamed in pain as the Inferno burned into her.

            Kyla glared angrily at the Mega-Houndoom and launched an Aura Sphere into him. He survived the hit and then ordered his forces forward.

            As the squad of Houndour charged the team, Stephan launched a Mud Bomb into the group. Four of them fainted as the other two launched Ember attacks at Chadwick, who was hit by both, but was easily still conscious.

            **As the highest-level member of the team, Chad is pretty tough.**

            Delilah rushed one of the Houndour and struck him with a Mach Punch. Then, Chadwick rushed the other foe and launched him into the ceiling of the cave with a Seismic Toss, fainting him.

            The remaining Houndour rushed past Delilah and blasted Kyla with an Ember. Then, his leader blasted Chadwick with a Flamethrower.

            Kyla felt faint, however, she fired another Aura Sphere at the Mega Houndoom, who staggered back from the hit.

            Stephan took down the Mega Houndoom with one of his Hydro Pump attacks, as Delilah used Fury Swipes to bring down the Houndour in front of her, ending the fight quickly.

            The team did not waste any time celebrating their victory over the second group of guardians. They had a mission to complete and they pressed deeper into the cave in order to do so.

            **They can walk off most injuries anyway, as we established before.**

            Kyla reached out with her aura sense again as they kept walking, she then opened her eyes in shock and said, “Everyone, there are two scrambled auras up ahead. The only other Pokémon I have ever known who could do that is my mother.”

            Stephan replied, “In that case, I wonder who we will encounter down there.”

            Delilah added, “Lets go and see, shall we.”

            It did not take the team that long to reach the bottom of the crystal-lit cave. When they arrived, they found a large cavern with various indentations in the walls that were likely where mining had occurred. The team saw various Mega-Stones embedded in the walls and the floor of the cave. There were only two other Pokémon in the cavern. Both of them were Lucario, like Kyla, one was male and one was female. 

            **Pokémon can probably tell specific individuals of the same species apart from minor differences that are imperceptible to others. Those minor differences are also used to figure out the individual’s sex from just looking at them.**

            Kyla said, “Of course, other Lucario. That is why they can scramble their aura’s, they probably sensed us coming.”

            The male stepped forward and replied, “Your observations are correct. Now, you all have reached the bottom of the cave you must defeat us in order to claim your Mega-Stones!”

            Kyla said to her team, “I will take the female one with Stephan. Chad, take the male with Delilah.”

            The two guardian Lucario moved apart from each other, possibly anticipating a Mud Bomb from Stephan. Then the female looked Kyla in the eyes and said, “It will be interesting to see how skilled you have become.”

            **What does she mean by that?**

            Kyla raised an eyebrow and asked, “Don’t you mean how skilled I am?”

            The other female Lucario replied, “No, Kyla. It has been a long time. Nothing personal, but I finally got a steady job of my own and I have to carry out my duties.”

            Alana Mega Evolved and then fired an Aura Sphere into Kyla’s chest. Stephan then realized what was going on and as he gasped he still wasted no time in blasting Alana with a Mud Shot. Alana recoiled back as Kyla returned fire with her own Aura Sphere.

            **I wonder how many readers thought that Alana was only going to be in the first chapter?**  

            On the other side of the cavern, Delilah moved up and then blasted the male Lucario with an Ember as Chadwick charged forward and punched him with a Brick Break.

            The Male Lucario then Mega Evolved and fired at Aura Sphere into Delilah, who was knocked back by the move.

            Alana then said, “I know that this is not the greatest way for us to reunite, but I have my duty to fulfill.” Alana charged up and fired another Aura Sphere into Kyla who blacked out from severe injury.

            **I decided to have Kyla faint in action once in the main story. That tradition was not continued for the protagonists of the sequels.**  

            When Kyla woke up she found herself on the cavern floor looking up at Chad. He said, “Hey, Kyla. We won the fight. Stephan says that the female Lucario he knocked out is an old partner in crime of yours. Awkward, huh.”

            Chadwick helped Kyla up as she said, “That is my old cellmate Alana. I was actually wondering what had happened to her for quite a while. I just did not bring it up much because I wanted to put that part of my life behind me. I am interested in knowing how she got here, though.”

            Chadwick replied, “Well, we need to wait for them to wake up anyway. We need them to tell us where the Mega-Stones we need are.”

            Kyla told her team about her past experiences with Alana as they waited for the guardians to wake up.

            **Kyla sure has to fill in a lot of other Pokémon with regard to various different events over the course of this story.**

            Kyla then heard Alana start to stir and walked over to her former cellmate. Kyla smiled at Alana who awkwardly smiled back as Kyla helped her up. The two of them then embraced briefly, after they disengaged the hug Kyla asked, “Alana, how did you get here?”

            As Kyla’s team got closer to Alana replied, after looking over to make sure that her partner was still unconscious, “I have a lot to ask you as well, you know, but I will start us off. When I made it to the outpost the evening after we were released I got an inn room. After that, I spent some time in town doing some volunteer guard duty, I did not tell anyone that I was a, you know.”

            **Alana assumed that Kyla’s allies did not know she had been a criminal.**

            Kyla said, “An outlaw. My entire team knows about my past. You have missed a lot of my life. In fact, I have reunited with my mother and even met my father!”

            Alana looked surprised and then continued, “Well, after a couple weeks at the outpost a male Lucario entered town. We bumped into each other because he said he could sense my aura and was interested to find someone within the same evolution line as him. He let me have dinner with him and then soon after he told me that he was only in town to get supplies. He then told me about his real occupation and offered for me join him if I was willing to engage in serious training. When I agreed, he bought me a Sun Ribbon, I evolved and then the rigorous training began.”

            **I have to assume that Sun Ribbon’s are naturally occurring so that the Riolu-Lucario Evolution line can survive. Especially since Riolu cannot breed until they evolve.**

            Then, a voice came from the other side of the cavern, “I was a harsh instructor, but I eventually came to care for Alana here. My name is Andrew, by the way.”

            **I wonder if I was subconsciously referencing Andrew Ryan from Bioshock, another one of my favorite video games, when I named the male guardian Lucario Andrew.**

            Andrew, who had recently woken up, got up and walked over to Alana and put an arm around her. Kyla blushed and smiled, realizing what had happened. Then Chadwick decided to put his arm around Kyla.

            Kyla said to Alana, “My story is a lot more complicated than yours. Why doesn’t Andrew help my friends and boyfriend get the Mega Stones they need, why I tell you all that has happened to me since we last met.”

            As Andrew helped Stephan, Delilah and Chadwick to locate the Mega Stones for Kyla, Marina, Stephan and Stanford. Kyla told Alana the long story of everything that had occurred in her life since release day. At the end of the story Alana told Kyla, “Well, that is too bad about your father being part of some sort of evil society. With regard to the ‘Imperium’ as you call it; I would love for us to help defeat them. However, we have a duty to guard the Mega Stones here.”

            **I think that I just wanted an excuse to not have the guardians join the Alliance Territory Militia in the upcoming battles?**

            As the rest of Kyla’s team, along with Andrew, came over to the girls. Kyla said, “Alana, it was great seeing you again… even though you knocked me out. I will take my Mega-Stone and, ideally, once this conflict is over, I will visit you here and tell you how Mega Evolution felt for me.” The pair of ex-cellmates shared one last hug and then Kyla and her team headed out.

            After Kyla and Stephan took possession of their Mega Stones, the team marched to the entrance to Groudon’s cave. There, they met with a group of Diglet and a Dugtrio who had been awaiting them. They had them send a message to Groudon to have his army of Pokémon begin the march to Megapolis. They also informed Groudon, via his messengers, about what happened with Rayquaza and how he would now be providing air support. Before any messages could officially return from Groudon, the team saw a massive number of wild Pokémon start to emerge from all around the area and begin to head north.

            **They are marching off to war…**

            Kyla then said, “It looks like Groudon is keeping his word. We should get back to the outpost and get the other stones to my mother and Stanford.”

            The team returned to the outpost late next evening and the next morning they prepared to march over the mountains. After having given Mega-Stones to Stanford and Marina, the team was standing in the town square getting their toolbox ready for the next mission. They had bought some more supplies including more Reviver Seeds.

            **Reviver Seeds are always important to have around.**  

            Delilah said, “It seems that we are all ready to move out. We need to get going before the last militia unit starts moving out from here.”

            Then a male voice said, “Before you all go off. I need to speak with one of you.”

            **There is that Trope of mine again, the “off screen” voice.**

            The team turned to the south and saw an older male Swampert walking slowly toward them.

            Stephan looked surprised and alarmed and said, “Dad?”

            Stephan’s father Tobias said, “Stephan, I heard about all you have been through and that you found the Mega-Stones. Honestly, I always thought they were just a legend.”

            Stephan retorted, “Why are you here dad? You disowned me, remember!”

            Tobias replied, “I came to see you because I have had a lot of time to think and I have realized that even though I might never approve of your preferences, that you are still my son. And honestly, I am very proud of all of your exploits in the Guild. I would hope that we could spend some time together in the near future and catch up if that is ok with you.”

            **Even though I already had the idea for this scene, my beta reader insisted on my putting it in after the “Marsha Incident.” He was ok with Stephan being permanently estranged from his mother, but he wanted him to recover his relationship with his father by the end of the story. I don’t think that the sex of the parent he made up with was what mattered to him.**

            Stephan thought for a moment and then awkwardly smiled and responded, “Assuming we get back from the battles ahead alright we can do that, but only if you are willing to meet my boyfriend.” Stephan ended his statement with a smirk.

            Tobias sighed and said, “I am glad I caught up to you before you left. I will meet this boyfriend of yours, and your other friends once you return. Good luck out there.”

            Stephan replied, “Thank you, father. I will hopefully see you when we return. Alright guys, Lets’ head out. The militia needs us to deal with any pesky wild Pokémon hostile to us on the way up north.”

            Stephan smiled at his father and Tobias smiled back at his son. Then, the team began the march up north on the road to Megapolis.

            **As an ending note on this chapter, a friend of mine who read this story, not my beta reader, liked how I brought Alana back into the story. However, he thought it would have been interesting to have Alana join the Imperium, or something else more dramatic than what actually happened. I think he wanted to see them fight for real?**


	30. Mons of War

            **This chapter’s name was inspired by the phrase “Man of War.” That phrase has been used to refer to both Jellyfish and Battleships interestingly enough.**

            As they marched towards Megapolis, Kyla’s team cleared a path through the mountain pass for the alliance militia by knocking out all the hostile wild Pokémon that got in their way. Within six days, they managed to reach Megapolis where they met up with the other militia Pokémon from the Alliance Territory. A huge number of land-based wild Pokémon had marched next to the road as the team and the militia marched to Megapolis.

            When Kyla and her allies arrived at the city the discovered that a large number of flying Pokémon had taken up residence in the upper floors of the old human-built structures. Upon their arrival, the militia Pokémon camped out in streets of Megapolis while Groudon’s army of wild Pokémon waited just south of the city.

            Kyla’s team left their things at the Guild headquarters before heading into the city to make sure they were supplied for the coming battle. The main purchase that the team made while shopping in the city was a TM for the move Flamethrower, which Delilah procured for herself. Much to his happy surprise, Chad turned out to be able to use the TM as well. Delilah replaced her Ember with Flamethrower while Chad replaced his Brick Break with Flamethrower. After the pair of team members learned their new moves, they all rested the night in the Guild HQ.

            **Chadwick needed a ranged attack. Also, I made TM’s work like they do in the newer core games as multiple use items. I never mentioned HM’s in ROC, even though I might have used HM moves at some point. Maybe I did not, I can’t remember every fight scene I have written at once, after all.**

            The next morning, Kyla and her team were called into the briefing room of the Guild’s headquarters. When they arrived, they found that there were quite a few Pokémon in the room. There was Shade, Akira, Theodore, Rexford, the other Polumbos team, Marina, Henry and finally, Rayquaza, who was looking through a large, open, window.

            Kyla’s team stood next to Henry and Marina as Shade began, “Welcome everyone, the reason that I have called you all here is that our air scouts have determined that the Legion is not only currently occupying the northern half of the ancient city, but they are going to send out their main force across the open plain in the city’s center today. I have already had my assistants deliver the basic information of our plan to Groudon. I must give my Kudos to the teams from Polumbos Town, even though they were not acting on my orders, for being able to get us the assistance of legendary Pokémon for this battle. We stand a good chance of winning, thanks to their reinforcements.”

            **Kudos… I wonder if I had him say that because of the Archive’s Kudos system. I surely knew that that was to be my posting location by then.**  

            Theodore then said, “Now, onto the strategy we will employ in this battle. I will lead the militia’s forces onto the plain in order to draw the Legion out. Rexford, Marina and Henry will accompany me. The Legion’s forces, to our knowledge, still do not know about our allies. So, after the outnumbered militia engages the Legion, Groudon’s army will rush into the plain and attack the enemy. Rayquaza’s Pokémon will also swoop in to provide air support and eliminate any flying Pokémon that the enemy has in their attack force.”

            **Sounds like a plan…**

            Akira added, “Now that we have the basic strategy down, it is time to explain our other plans. Shade and I are going to lead the Guild’s Pokémon that have arrived here to assist us, who are not from the Alliance Territory, through the eastern ruins on the side of the city. The two Guild teams from the Alliance Territory go through the western ruins. These strike teams’ goal will be twofold. For one, we will focus on stopping any enemy Pokémon with the same idea of sneaking around the flanks. Also, we will be trying to reach what we believe is the enemy’s command tent where the Legion general Brutus will be. If we can assassinate him, then we will disable the enemy forces.”

            **She did indeed say assassinate, the Alliance means business at this point.**

            Shade then replied, “We will be moving out quickly now, so all of you need to go to your respective positions and remember, if we can win this we can show the Imperium that we are a force to be reckoned with and start pushing them north.”

            After Kyla and Marina shared a brief embrace, the Pokémon all moved out to engage the enemy. The two Guild teams from Polumbos started on their route around the western side of the city. Eventually, the two teams found a fork in the path through the ruins and split up to make sure that they would intercept any enemies heading through the ruins.

            Kyla’s team was closer to the center plain and as such they were able to see the Militia and the Legion beginning to engage each other. The militia forces were taking a serious beating at first. However, as they began to retreat a number of Pokémon burrowed up from the ground followed by some others, including Groudon, rushing out into plain. Then, Rayquaza and his flying Pokémon attacked in full force, engaging the Legion’s land and air units.

            **It’s a Trap! This time, the protagonist’s side has set it. By the way, with regard to my earlier mention of the six original Star Wars movies. I thought that Return of the Jedi was a perfectly good ending for the series and that sequel trilogy so far has been a cynical cash grab by Disney. It has still worked for them… for now… :(.**

            Kyla smirked, “Ok, this battle is going just according to plan, now we just need to bring down the enemy’s general and we can ensure a victory.”

            Chadwick nodded and added, “We just need to be careful, we are only a small squad moving into enemy territory. We will have to retreat if we encounter a large enough enemy unit.”

            Everyone nodded, remembering the story that Kyla had told them about how her and Akira had been captured by the Legion while scouting. The group managed to find their way through the ruins as the battle continued to rage in the central plain.

            Eventually, they found their way to a place where the battle was no longer in sight. Kyla told her team, “Guys, I sense some auras up ahead, they seem very tense and I do not recognize any of them.”

            **Kyla’s Aura Sense comes in handy again. Thankfully, she is focusing away from the main battlefield. She might have been overwhelmed by that. She is still not as experienced as her mother with Aura Sense.**

            Delilah replied, “We should get going and deal with them in that case. Maybe it is the enemy base camp?”

            Stephan said, “We have to be getting closer. I am not sure if we are there yet, though.”

            Kyla’s team continued on until they encountered a Legion patrol consisting of a group of three Flareon and a pair of Sylveon.

            Chadwick said, “This patrol must be guarding the route to the base camp. We cannot let any of them escape to warn their general.”

            The enemies noticed the team and then the Flareon bounded forward to attack as the Sylveon launched Moon Blasts at Chadwick, they both connected with him as one of the Flareon detonated a Lava Plume on Kyla at close range.

            The other pair of Flareon moved in on Delilah and breathed blasts of Smog at her. She was thankfully not poisoned by the attacks.

            Chadwick rushed the Flareon who had attacked Kyla and launched her into the air with a Seismic Toss. Then, Stephan took her down with a Mud Shot.

            **I called that Flareon both male and female in the original draft by accident. I fixed it so now she is referred to properly.**

            One of the other two Flareon was struck by one of Delilah’s Mach Punch moves as Kyla rushed one of the Sylveon and stuck her with a Metal Claw.

            The pair of Sylveon turned to Kyla and fired Moon blasts at her, but she dodged one of them and was not severely injured by the one that hit.

            At the same time, the two Flareon both charged and used Bite on Stephan. He withstood the attacks and retaliated with a carefully-aimed Mud Bomb, which struck both of them.  

            Chadwick then finished one of the Flareon off with another Seismic Toss.

            Delilah used her new Flamethrower move to blast the Sylveon who Kyla had injured. Kyla then finished off the same Sylveon with a second Metal Claw.

            The last Sylveon shot Kyla with another Moon Blast and then began to flee. The Flareon tried to cover her ally by rushing Kyla and detonating another Lava Plume at her.

            Kyla was feeling faint. Still, she chased after the Sylveon, tackled her to the ground and impaled her with a Metal Claw.

            **Ouch!**

            Stephan neutralized the Flareon with a Hydro Pump. Then Delilah and Chad each used Flamethrower to blast the Sylveon, who Kyla held up, giving them an easy target.

            **That might have been a bit of foreshadowing…**

            Kyla breathed heavily as she said, “Ok, all enemies downed, lets’ advance to the base camp and deal with their general.” Chadwick tossed Kyla an Oran Berry, which healed her considerably when she ate it, as the team continued on their way to the enemy base camp.

            **Finally, I mentioned an Oran Berry being eaten!**

            Eventually, the team reached a series of tents. After disposing with a few small groups of weaker enemies, they found themselves outside of a large tent.

            Delilah said, “Assuming this is the base camp, we need to take out their leader quickly. I see the Legion’s forces retreating in this direction.”

            As Delilah was finishing up her statement, an Aggron flanked by a pair of Larion left the tent. They were all wearing Legion sashes. Then, a group of four Leafeon wearing Legion sashes rushed out to position themselves in front of the trio.

            No other forces from the Alliance seemed to have reached the camp as Brutus said, “So, an enemy squad has breached our camp. Since this battle has been a miserable defeat for us, eliminating you all will make me feel somewhat less miserable. Either way, I will have to report my first major loss to the Emperor.”

            The unit of Leafeon all fired Razor Leaf attacks at Stephan, two of them bounced off of his hide, but the others connected solidly.

            The two Larion did not attack and held their position as Brutus clutched a Mega Stone in his hand and Mega Evolved, then he began to charge a ball of green light in his hands.

            **I think that he used a TM to learn the move Solar Beam.**

            Stephan looked severely weakened after being hit by the two attacks. He then clutched his Mega-Stone and Mega-Evolved for the first time. He then fired a Hydro Pump at Brutus, who looked only moderately injured.

            Delilah and Chadwick each targeted a Leafeon with a Flamethrower, the one that Delilah hit dropped and the one Chad hit was almost downed.  

            **Delilah has Same-Type Attack Bonus when using Flamethrower after all.**

            Kyla clutched her stone and then Mega-Evolved. She felt an immense surge of pure energy course through her body and she could not help but grin. She then used an Aura sphere on one of the Larion guarding Brutus and knocked him out in a single hit.

            **Like mother, like daughter. That being a reference to when Marina used an Aura Sphere on a Larion during Kyla’s rescue.**

            As that point, Brutus fired a Solar Beam at Stephan, which knocked him out, despite his Mega-Evolution. Then Brutus and his guard began to advance on the remaining team members.

            The two undamaged Leafeon launched Razor Leaf attacks at Chadwick, which hit. The weakened one hit him with a Giga Drain, reducing his health while restoring a bit of her own.

            Kyla dropped the second Larion with an Aura Sphere as he approached the team. At the same time, Delilah knocked out another Leafeon with a Flamethrower. Chadwick then finished the Leafeon who had Giga Drained him with a Karate Chop to the head. Only one Leafeon remained as Brutus moved in on Delilah.

            As he was advancing, Brutus looked over at Kyla and said, “I have heard about you. You are Geoffrey and Marina’s daughter, aren’t you. Well, I will have to apologize to Geoffrey after I eliminate you and your team.”

            **He does not intend to take prisoners here since he is very angry about his first loss.**

            Then, Brutus used a Mud Slap on Delilah, getting Mud in her eyes and severely injuring her.

            The final Leafeon was also not about to give up, as she sniped Chad with another Razor Leaf.

            Chad then said, “Delilah, Drop the last Leafeon! Kyla and I will take down the enemy general!”

            Delilah understood as she used another Flamethrower to snipe and knock out the final enemy Leafeon, despite her lowered accuracy.

            Then Kyla shouted, “Chad, I will cover you!” She then fired an Aura Sphere into Brutus, harming him somewhat.

            **His Mega-Evolution reduced his vulnerability to Fighting Type Moves. That is why I put that last part in that paragraph.**  

            Chadwick rushed Brutus and used a successful Karate Chop on him.

            Brutus responded with a Heat Butt to the face, which weakened and stunned Chadwick.

            Brutus then rushed at Kyla, who struck him with a Brick Break.

            Delilah shouted, “We outnumber him three to one now!” She then charged in with a Much Punch, which damaged Brutus further.

            As Chad was Recovering, Brutus nailed Kyla with a Mud Slap. However, she easily withstood the attack and wiped off the mud.

            Chadwick then Charged Brutus with a Seismic Toss readied, but he evaded it, then Kyla back flipped away from her enemy and launched an Aura Sphere directly into his chest.

            As Brutus recoiled from Kyla’s vicious attack, Delilah used a Brick Break to punch him in the Face, finally dropping him.

            **Delilah gets to take down at least one “Boss”** **in the story. She was definitely the least developed member of Kyla’s team. I tried to have her do more in the story a few times, though.**

            Kyla walked over to Stephan, who had reverted to his standard form and fed him a Reviver Seed.  Hans and his team arrived on the scene soon after that. It was not long until Kyla also reverted to her normal form.

            Hans, who by now was a Haxorus, asked, “How has your team been doing? We ran into a group of Sableye who could Mega-Evolve. We believe that they were part of the Imperium’s ‘Secret Police.’ We also encountered many other Legion Pokémon and defeated all of them.” 

            Chadwick picked up the downed Brutus and then said, “We have a job to do here and as our normal de-facto leader I will execute our task.” He grimaced and then used his immense strength to snap the enemy general’s neck.

            **I should have maybe put some more emotional weight into that scene. Chad may have killed enemies before, but that time it was right where the reader could see it. That might have also been a “Man of Steel” reference.**

            As Stephan was waking up he mentioned, “That was a bit of a morbid pun, but he will not be reporting back to his leader now. We should return to our main force. I want to make sure that Stanford is okay.”

            As the two teams were about to leave, Akira and Shade walked into the camp. Akira examined the situation and said, “Sorry that we could not get here sooner. It does look like you all took care of things, however.”

            Shade continued, “We will form a chokepoint here to try and intercept any Legion soldiers fleeing the battle. So that you all know, our squad ran into a pair of secret police Zweilous enforcers. And then we were able to assassinate a Dusknoir protected by a pair of Dusclops who were trying to reach our side’s supply lines, from what we could tell. That should cripple the Imperium’s ‘secret police.’”

            **Now, Cassius has been killed. The Imperium is losing high-ranking leaders fast.**

            Akira responded and finished, “I recognized one of the Dusclops as my torturer, so I was finally allowed to get some revenge by ending him.”

            Chandra replied, “While we also stopped some secret police units, the other team eliminated Brutus. They got here before we did.”

            As the other Guild Pokémon arrived at the camp, Shade said, “Regardless, we have scored a great victory in this battle. It appears that the Legion is making a full retreat and we will stop as many of them as we can right here.”

            As the Guild’s Pokémon were taking their positions, Alina said, “We can also loot the camp for supplies, and, more importantly, intelligence.”

            Shade grinned at Alina as the group all hunkered down.

            **Research was Shade’s big thing, so he likes the idea of looting enemy records for the information they contain.**  

             The Guild forces were able, with some backup from Rayquaza’s airborne Pokémon, to take out a large number of retreating Legion soldiers. The battle of Megapolis resulted in the near elimination of the Legion force sent there and the death of two of the Imperium’s most important officers.

            A few days after the battle was won, the leaders of the victorious forces announced that they would be marching further north to liberate the long sliver of the continent occupied by the Legion on their way to Megapolis. Fortunately, everyone important to Kyla and her teammates had survived the battle and they joined the force marching due north.

            **I have a habit of not killing off many key characters that are not villains. Most of the characters I killed off in the ROC fanfic series were at least somewhat antagonistic.**

            Over the next three months, the teams from Polumbos participated in a large number of quick battles against small Legion occupation forces. Eventually, the Alliance’s army was positioned within a day’s march of the coast where they were to meet up with Kyogre’s aquatic Pokémon for the mission to liberate a coastal town. That town had been made the Imperium’s base of operations on the continent.

            At the newest alliance camp, the morning of the assault, before the mission briefing for Kyla’s team was to commence, Henry approached Kyla, asking her, “Hey, Kyla, before your team heads out for today’s mission, could I talk to you for a moment?”

            Kyla raised an eyebrow, but she agreed to speak with him briefly.

            **Thirty chapters down! That is how many chapters are in both of the sequels to this work, as a matter of fact. They both ended up shorter than the first story and the same length in terms of number of total chapters.**  


	31. Freeing the Guardian

            Kyla was standing with Henry at the edge of the large militia encampment. Henry began by telling Kyla, “First of all, I am not sure if she has told you this yet, but Marina really appreciates the Mega-Stone you brought her. She has used it in pretty much every fight we have been in since the battle of Megapolis.”

            Kyla responded, “The Mega-Stones are useful. Stephan and I used ours in the battle against Brutus. Also, we have been using them in the march north since. Stanford, who you have met has also been using his.”

            Henry nodded and then continued, “The Mega-Stones have been nice for those who can use them. That is not why I wanted to talk to you, however. I should have had a private conversation with you a while ago.”

            Kyla asked, “Now why is that?”

            Henry sighed and continued, “Kyla, I just want to be clear with you that me and Marina are very much in love and that I don’t want you to be upset that I have replaced Geoffrey in her eyes. Both Marina and I want you to not worry about him because he is ‘one of them’. He is still evil as far as I am concerned. Also, I can promise you that I will never mistreat your mother. I love her, in major part because she opened my eyes about the Imperium.”

            **Henry shares Delilah’s feelings about Geoffrey, I see.**

            Kyla put her hand on her face and sighed as she said, “I am not my mother’s keeper, Henry. As much as I dislike the idea of my mother being with someone other than my father, I cannot and will not keep you from her. However, I honestly do not think my father is evil. I think that there is some good in him and that there is some slim hope for him to make the same decision you did.”

            Henry just shook his head from side to side in frustration and replied, “I know Geoffrey, Kyla and he is fanatically loyal to the Imperium and its leader. He will never betray them, ever.”

            **Henry has worked with Geoffrey, after all.**

            Kyla replied, “Henry, I know that you are well-intentioned and that you deeply care for my mother. However, I still have to have some hope for my dad. Now, I should get back to my team to get briefed for the upcoming mission.”

            Henry said, as Kyla was leaving, “Just please understand that me and Marina are happy together.”

            Kyla then nodded back at him and returned to her team. They were currently meeting up with Shade and Theodore.

            Theodore began by saying, “The other units already have had their orders given, now for your team’s mission. While our main force attacks the town to liberate it and therefore drive the Legion off of this continent, your team is going to take on a special mission.”

            Shade continued, “We think that the enemy will be flanked and wiped out here due to Kyogre’s aquatic Pokémon stopping them from evacuating to their base island. While our armies mop up the Legion’s troops, you will be traveling to a small temple just outside of town. We managed to locate and speak with some Pokémon who had fled this town when the Legion captured it and went into hiding. They claim that the temple was used to worship a Pokémon they called their guardian. Apparently, the Legion’s air units were able to subdue this ‘guardian’ and capture he/she/it. The guardian is being held at the temple as both a display of the Legion’s power and as a sort of hostage. If you can free that Pokémon, we can convince the locals to resist the Legion.”

            **It’s** **time for the last Legendary Pokémon in this story to appear.**

            Stephan added, “The temple will almost certainly be guarded by some elite Legion units.”

            Delilah replied, “We can take them, based on our past successes. We can complete this mission, I am sure of it.”

            Shade then finished, “I have confidence in you four. Now I need to go meet with Akira before our main attack. The other team from Polumbos will be engaging the enemy forces along with our primary force.”

            The team saluted Shade, who saluted back at them. Then the team headed out, using a map given to them by Theodore.

            The team headed east of the town as they watched Groudon lead a charge into the town, he easily smashed the front gate and kept going, similar to how Theodore had earlier smashed through the wooden front gate of Eastharbor Town. As the team got closer to the old stone temple, they looked out to sea. There they watched a large engagement between who they assumed was Kyogre and his fleet of aquatic Pokémon and the Legion’s navy led by the Walrein Admiral, Julius. Kyorge’s Pokémon, which included some easily-visible Mega-Gyrados and some Lapras, outnumbered the Legion’s navy and were dividing and destroying the enemy forces.

            **There are some Lapras. I mentioned earlier that I regretted not having more of them in this story. It seems like Kyogre’s forces got access to some Mega-Stones.**  

            As the team kept moving towards the temple, Kyla mentioned that she could sense multiple auras inside of it, including one she had trouble getting a good read on.

            **That little paragraph was only inserted for this re-release. I did mention that I occasionally forgot Kyla’s Aura Sense.**

            The team arrived at the temple, finding no enemy soldiers guarding it. They walked between some of the columns and then saw a massive restrained Pokémon whose species none of them were familiar with. She was a huge, white and blue, avian Pokémon with mask like markings around her eyes. Her wings ended in what looked like hands. She was standing on the ground with inhibitor shackles on her legs and a T shaped bar with cuffs on her wings, neck and tail attached. Her mouth was gagged with a large bit. The mysterious Pokémon looked down at the team as they entered.

            **I put down legs twice at first; I changed the second one to wings this time around.**

            Kyla looked up at the captive avian and said, “We are here to free you. Just relax.”

            The Pokémon tried to tell the team something, but her bit made her unable to properly pronounce any words. The team then saw a unit of four Deino come out from behind some columns. Kyla now knew what most of the auras she had sensed were. A Hydreigon then descended from the ceiling of the temple and said, “I will not allow you to free our ‘long-term guest’ she is too valuable of a captive for us to lose. Bring that strike team down, soldiers!”

            The four Deino opened fire on the team with Dragon Breath attacks. Every team member took a hit and Stephan was paralyzed. The Hydreigon swooped down an unleashed a Hyper Voice attack, blasting the team with a cone of sonic energy.

            **No one on Kyla’s team has the Soundproof ability.**  

            Kyla gripped her Mega-Stone and Mega Evolved and then fired an Aura Sphere into one of the Deino, severely damaging him. Then, Delilah followed up with a charge and a Mach Punch, which rendered the weakened foe unconscious. Chadwick rushed another of the Deino and used a Seismic Toss to throw him into the temple’s ceiling; he fainted when he hit the ground.

            The two remaining Deino turned to face Chad and one of them charged him with a Dragon Rage, creating a flash of light as the move connected. Then the second Deino used a Roar to launch Chad back into one of the temple’s pillars.

            **Like in the PMD games that I have played, Roar simply knocks the target back quite far, rather than removing them from the battle altogether.**

            At the same time, the Hydreigon rushed Delilah with a Body Slam. Delilah countered with a Brick Break to the chest and after that, Kyla blasted him with an Aura Sphere.

            As Chadwick rushed a Deino and nailed him in the face with a Karate Chop, the Hydreigon grudgingly said, “You all are a very experienced strike team. I can see why you were given this mission.”

            The two Deino each attacked Chad with a Dragon Rage attack, but he blocked each one with one of his fists.

            **Double Counter! What Chad just did reminded me of something that Batman would do. Batman is my favorite superhero.**  

            The Hydreigon then flew back and blasted Delilah with a Dragon Breath, she became paralyzed.

            Chadwick used a second Karate Chop on his injured foe, which remained conscious as Stephan became free of paralysis.

            Stephan then Mega Evolved and hurled a Mud Bomb at Chadwick’s attackers, knocking the damaged one out entirely.

            Kyla used another Aura Sphere on the Hydreigon, at this point, he was beginning to look badly wounded.

            The last Deino rushed Stephan with a Dragon Rage, but Stephan withstood the attack.

            At the same time, the Hydreigon detonated a Dragon Pulse over Delilah and Kyla, weakening both of them.

            Stephan blasted Chad’s final foe with a Mud Shot to the head and then, Chadwick took him down with a Brick Break.  

            Kyla glared up at the Hydreigon and told him plainly, “You are out of minions. It is time for you to fall.” She then launched an Aura Sphere into the enemy officer, who withstood the shot, but seemed very faint.

            **Unfortunately, he does not go down here.**

              Hydreigon then replied, sounding strangely calm, “It seems as though you have won this battle. I will go to join the retreat in that case.”

            The Legion Hydreigon then quickly flew away out of the team’s sight. As Delilah was shaking off her paralysis, Stephan said, “Now we just need to get that Pokémon out of her restraints.”

            As the others looked for keys, and a ladder, Chadwick went out to the nearby coast and shouted back to his allies, “Everyone, it looks like the Legion is attempting a full evacuation of the town. The good news is that it’s failing miserably because of our naval forces…. I think that Kyogre might have just eaten the enemy’s Admiral!”

            **Yeah… that happened. The Imperium has lost another one of its major officers.**

            It took the team about half an hour and a ladder to be able to fully free the guardian from her bonds. When she was finally un-gagged she collapsed to the ground, looked over her liberators and said, “Thank you all for releasing me. I have been a captive in my own temple for far too long. The Pokémon in the town will be happy to see that I am free now. My only regret about your rescue is that you could not stop that Hydreigon from escaping, he tortured me many times for my refusal to join that ‘Imperium’ of theirs.… By the way, you can call me Lugia.”

            **And my favorite species of Pokémon finally joins the story. She takes on a much bigger role in the sequels. Her role in those stories is essentially the TV Trope Big Good, once she shows up.**

            Kyla responded, “We are all glad to help. Now we should get you to the town and find you a place to rest, as well as meet up with our allies.”

            As they were all leaving the temple, Lugia commented, “I see you brought some other Legendary Pokémon with you?”

            Delilah told her, “It is a very long story, we will tell you when we get the chance.”

            The group returned to town where, that evening, there was a great celebration to commemorate the Legion finally being driven off of the continent.

            Lugia, determined to stop her former captors once and for all, agreed to help in any future operations against the Imperium the next day. A large force of militia Pokémon as well as Groudon and Kyogre’s forces was to be stationed at the northern coast and sea to prevent the Legion’s forces from leaving their island home easily. Rayquaza made a base for himself and his Pokémon in Megapolis with Shade and Akira. The two teams as well as Marina, Henry, Rexford, Stanford and Theodore returned to Polumbos Town soon after those arrangements had been made.

            One of the main topics of discussion in the, now vastly expanded, Alliance Territory over the next few weeks was how to continue to prosecute the war with the Imperium, which was currently at a stalemate.

            **My beta reader expected the war to not yet be over when this story ended. However, he was wrong.**

            It was believed by some that an invasion of the enemy’s home Island would be needed. Others thought that a truce would be the best way to end the conflict without any further losses.

            One day, Kyla and Chadwick had just finished breakfast in their house when Delilah and Stephan showed up at their door.

            Delilah, who had an urgent look on her face, said, “Everyone who can come has been summoned to the town hall!”

            Stephan continued, “A message has been received carried by a Legion Skarmory, the mayor has apparently finished reading it and has called an emergency town meeting!”

            **It was Valeria who carried the message, since she was the head of the Legion Air Scouts. The Air Scouts was the official name of that branch of the Imperium’s military.**

            As the team was walking to the Town Hall, Kyla mentioned, “If we are having an emergency meeting then it is good that Shade is visiting at the moment to speak with Theodore about future battle strategies.”

            **That was a good coincidence for them.**

            Chadwick nodded in agreement and then replied, “He was flown here by Rayquaza, so we have him to thank as well. We should be grateful that the service of these Legendary Pokémon will only expire with the end of this conflict.”

            The team came into sight of the Town Hall as they entered the empty square. When the team entered the hall they found it to be immensely crowded with Shade, Theodore, Mayor Armaldo and Rexford at the center. Rayquaza was looking in through a window at the scene.

            The team was allowed to come to the center of the first floor where the town’s other team also was. Mayor Armaldo then began the meeting by saying, “We have received a letter directly from Mewtwo, the leader of the Imperium.”

            **Only three chapters left! Including the epilogue that is.**


	32. Ultimatum and Redemption

            The team had arrived in the Polumbos Town Hall, where Mayor Armaldo had just announced that a message had been received directly from Mewtwo, the self-proclaimed ‘Emperor’ of the Imperium. Shade, the Guild Master of the Pokémon Adventurers Guild, was in attendance of the meeting along with the rest of the important local figures and the Legendary Pokémon Rayquaza.

            **For once, I did not feel the need to list all of the “Important Local Figures.”**

            Kyla felt awkward since she was the only Pokémon in the room who had actually met Mewtwo face to face. When she had encountered him face to face, she had been both irritated and scared by his determination to accomplish his goal of a world united under his permanent rule.

            **That was presumably a reminder of the time when Kyla encountered Mewtwo in the flesh back in Chapter 23.**  

            Chadwick then spoke up and asked Armaldo, “What does the letter say, Mayor?”

            Mayor Armaldo said, “I have already read the letter and after consulting with Shade, the Guild Master of the P.A.G. I believe that the threat that the enemy leader has made is real.”

            Delilah asked, “Well what is the threat? You need to read the letter to all of us!”

            Armaldo then cleared his throat and said; “I shall read the letter to you all now.”

            He began, “To the residents of Polumbos Town. You have earned the honor of being the first force to successfully oppose the Imperium and you have been able to set my plans back considerably. Your so- called ‘alliance’ has brought barbarism back to a large swath of the continent and forced my forces back onto the Northern Island where we started. However, your resistance needs to end so that the world can be re-civilized. Our society will ultimately prevail over your barbaric association. The exact reason why we will prevail is that we have uncovered and are readying an atomic missile, one of the weapons that lead to the extinction of humanity centuries ago. We are, as you read this message, preparing the guidance system for the weapon to target the center of your alliance, Polumbos Town. The weapon has the potential to wipe out the settlement and the surrounding area in one shot. You will surrender your forces, dismiss your legendary Pokémon, and allow yourselves to be incorporated into the Imperium; otherwise we will destroy Polumbos Town. You will need to send your message of surrender as soon as you can as we cannot and will not give you a deadline. We are fully willing to launch the missile once it is ready. You will not have time to reach the Imperial city in time to stop it! This is your final warning; cease your resistance and surrender! Signed: Mewtwo, Emperor of the Imperium of Pokémon.”

            **Mewtwo has experienced what TV Tropes calls a Villainous Breakdown behind the scenes. He cannot handle being set back as much as he has been. In his mind, desperate times call for desperate measures.**    

            After the Mayor had finished reading the letter, everyone in the room was speechless. Kyla could sense the fear and tension in the aura of every Pokémon in the vicinity.

            Stephan was the first to speak, shouting, “We cannot just let them win! We have come too far and we all know what they will do to us based on what happened in EastHarbor.”

            Theodore then said, “Stephan has quite a point, we cannot give in to that tyrannical creature! However, how would we reach this ‘Imperial City’ and disarm this strange weapon?”

            **Both of them make good points in this scene.**

            Shade said, “I would have to go with any expedition that tried to disarm the device. I know the most about human technology of anyone here.”

            Hans the chimed in by saying, “Still, how would we get there? Rayquaza and Lugia might be able to fly a small number of us in, but they would not be enough to take down a whole city full of Legion Pokémon and their leaders.”

            At that point panic started to take hold in the room as many of the town’s Pokémon began realize the hopelessness of the situation.

            The situation began to deteriorate as Mayor Armaldo tried to establish some order in the Town Hall. The local Pokémon did not want to surrender to the severe oppression of the Imperium, but at the same time they did not want to die.

            **The Imperium certainly did not view themselves as promoting “severe oppression.” However, outsiders viewed that as true.**

            Kyla focused her aura sense on the room and could feel all the panic, and then she noticed a familiar aura coming from outside the town hall. It was approaching fast.

            Kyla shouted, “Everyone! Get down, incoming!”

            The already panicked Pokémon in the room hit the deck as best as they could as Magnezone flew through the window.

            **My two friends who were reading this, including my beta reader, both loved Magnezone. I think that they were both happy to see it again. I referred to Magnezone as “It” because it is not a conventionally living creature.**

            Magnezone hovered above the large crowd and then said, “If your problem is what I believe it is, then perhaps I could be of assistance.”

            Chadwick looked up at Magnezone and said, “I do not know why you are here, but I am not sure why you want to help us after you tried to murder us!”

            Magnezone replied, “You are being menaced by a creature calling himself Mewtwo, right?”

            **Now, I wonder how it knows that.**

            Everyone stared at Magnezone in disbelief as it then continued, “I can help you all get to where Mewtwo is based, so that you can stop him.”

            Delilah looked up at Magnezone and told it, “You have still not answered our question.”

            Magnezone responded, “If you want to know I will tell you, but it will just waste time. After your unpleasant raid on the bunker I was guarding, I decided to make sure that all of the bunker’s technology, including it’s computer network, was re-activated to make sure that it would not be so easily raided again. After powering the bunker’s computer back on it informed me that another, similar, computer was still active. I was able to remotely hack the other machine and I learned quite a bit. To make a long story short, the Pokémon known as Mewtwo who runs the faction opposed to yours was a genetic experiment created by the rebels against the Global Federation. He was intended as a general to lead an army of Pokémon fighting for their freedom against Pokémon trainers. However, the humans who created him never managed to activate him. Somehow, some Pokémon found and released him and he came to be their leader. He is going to activate the atomic missile to end your resistance, my hacking skills are impeccable and I know that Mewtwo has the knowledge to use human high technology. I want Mewtwo dead because I feel that ending him and all he has created will be the conclusion of my duty to the, admittedly long extinct, Global Federation.”

            **That was a long bit of exposition, but it was important. Also, even though they have very different roles, my story’s Magnezone was meant to be somewhat of a shout-out to the Magnezone police officer in PMD: Explorers.**

            Kyla then said, “Well that explains your motivations, but how could you get a significant number of us to the Imperial City?”

            Magnezone replied, “Just north of Megapolis there is a pressurized bunker where there are a number of Global Federation transport planes still being stored. We can use them to take a large number of Pokémon to the city where the weapon’s silo is. We will have to make a crash landing. But once we dispose of Mewtwo, I can launch the missile and harmlessly detonate it in the upper atmosphere.”

            Shade then stepped forward and said, “We can get the Guild teams and I to Megapolis using Rayquaza and his Pokémon. There, we will rally the local militia and use the vehicles Magnezone is speaking of to get our strike force to the Imperial City. As for getting back home, I do have my newest creation…”

            Shade pulled out a blue sphere that looked like it was made of tinted glass. He then said, “This here is the Escape Orb. We can register all of the attack force’s Pokémon on it and when I break it against the ground we will be teleported back to the Guild’s HQ.”

            **I always loved the Escape Orb item in PMD…Beam me/us up!**

            Rayquaza added, “If we are going to attempt this attack, I can come and so can Lugia, but pretty much no other Pokémon we have will be able to fly fast enough. I will go retrieve her and then come back here so the two of us and our allies can fly a few of you to Megapolis.”

            Chadwick said, “Well, it looks like our plan is actually coming together. While Rayquaza is away, all the Guild Pokémon and Rexford should get ready for the assault.”

            The group began to disperse, as the plan was set. Many Pokémon wished the teams good luck and Hans’s team set off to prepare after Rayquaza darted off into the sky. Chad asked Delilah and Stephan to get the team toolbox ready, saying he needed to spend some time with Kyla before the mission began. Marina and Henry both expressed a desire to go on the mission, but accepted that it had become a Guild operation. Marina and Henry started to brief Shade on the Imperial City and its Legion bases as Chadwick took Kyla to the woods where they had first spent a night together.

            **They can only get so many Pokémon to Megapolis quickly, so not everyone who wanted to could come on the mission.**  

            When they arrived Kyla asked Chad, “Why did you bring me out here, are you trying to spend some ‘quality time’ with me before we go, because that is fine with me. We just need to hurry back afterwards so we can set off for Megapolis with the others.”

            **I think that they both wanted to be close with each other one more time before what could be their last mission.**

            Chadwick took Kyla’s hands, he then said, “Kyla, it is not just that I wanted to be with you more time, just in case we do not survive this mission. You see, I overheard your mother and Henry when they were talking at a café in Polumbos Town before the battle of Megapolis. Henry was ‘proposing’ to your mother. He said that he wanted to ‘marry’ her once the Imperium’s expansion had been stopped. I talked to Mother Blissey about the idea of marriage later and she told me that it was an old human custom that involved a couple, ideally, committing to each other for life.”

            Kyla then interrupted Chadwick and told him, “Oddly enough, Mewtwo of all Pokémon told me about marriage before. Continue, though.”

            **That was how Kyla first learned of the concept…**

            Chadwick continued to hold both of Kyla’s hands as he said, “Kyla, I love you. I want us to have a life and a family together. I want to try the custom out to see how it works with you. So… Kyla, would you marry me?”

            Kyla said, “Sure. I would be happy to do that if it makes you happy.”

            **My beta reader thought that Kyla’s reaction was appropriate based on her character. She was just like “sure” as opposed to a more emotional reaction.**

            Chadwick kissed Kyla and then replied, “Mother Blissey told me that she was willing to marry whatever couple wants her to marry them. If we survive this mission, then we will be wed soon after. Now, lets’ celebrate our engagement.

            Kyla grinned as he laid her down gently.

            Chadwick and Kyla later returned to Polumbos Town, where they found the other Guild Pokémon at the ready to move out. Stephan said goodbye to Stanford and Kyla said goodbye to Marina and Henry. Chad and Delilah said goodbye to their respective parents. Soon, Rayquaza returned with Lugia. Then, Shade, Rexford and the two teams were airlifted to Megapolis.

            They all rested in the Guild Headquarters that night, except for the Legendary Pokémon, who rested outside the building.

            **I guess that Legendaries do need to sleep, or at least rest, in this setting. At least those two do.**

            The next day, at the crack of dawn, Magnezone led the two Guild teams, Shade, Rexford and another 30 Pokémon from Megapolis over to a bunker just north of the city hidden under a hill. Shade had told Akira to man the Guild HQ, but she had insisted on coming with the strike force, saying that she would never forgive herself if something happened to Shade and she was not by his side.

            **I forgot that Akira went with them on this mission…**

            Magnezone powered on the massive doors to the hanger and it opened, allowing air to rush in to the facility. The strike force entered the hanger as the lights all turned on, revealing a large space with a number of gun racks and, more importantly, four un-decayed transport airplanes.

            **There were probably some fighter jets in there as well.**

            As Magnezone started to activate a number of Porygon and Porygon 2 around the base who began to ready the transports for flight, Delilah said, “These vehicles look a lot like a husk we saw at the military ruins. I hope that these things work.”

            Magnezone directed the militia’s Pokémon to help with fueling and loading the four-engines planes. He then assigned himself to pilot the lead plane and explained to the Militia and Guild Pokémon that he was going to assign a Porygon 2 to pilot each of the three secondary planes, but that the secondary planes could be programmed to follow the lead plane for the whole trip and that that would be the default unless an unexpected problem arose.

            Shade then split his force into four groups. One would include him, Akira and Rexford, they would go with Magnezone, another would include Hans’s team and another would include Kyla’s team. Then, one last group was assigned to their plane. The four groups all boarded their respective aircraft.

            Magnezone turned on the lead aircraft’s radio and told the other planes to prepare for takeoff via radio control from his plane. The four airplane’s propellers began to spin and then they lined up and flew out of the hanger with Rayquaza and Lugia right behind them.

            **The Global Federation’s transport planes were intended to look like B-24 Liberator bombers from World War II. You can easily find pictures of that aircraft model using Google nowadays. I have a distant relative, who is still alive at the time of writing, who flew on one of those during the war.**

            The aircraft and Legendary Pokémon were flying over the continent’s northern half when the sun began to go down. Magnezone radioed the three-other aircraft saying, “The Porygon 2 and I will keep flying, seeing as though we do not need to sleep. When morning comes, we will be close to the Imperial City, according to my calculations. All of the passengers should get some sleep so as to be ready for the attack tomorrow.”

            Kyla was in the farthest back plane, close to the cockpit, with her team. The passengers on the plane were sitting on benches on the sides of the aircraft’s interior. As they tried to ignore the turbulence, Kyla was able to close her eyes and drift into sleep with Chadwick’s arm around her.

            **This is where the story got a bit crazy. However, my beta reader said that the ultimate relevance of previously mentioned human technology to the story was a good idea on my part. Anyway, only the “final boss” chapter and the epilogue are left now.**


	33. Attacking the Imperial City

            **This chapter was originally called “Stopping the New Order.” More information on why I changed the name will come later.**

            When Kyla opened her eyes after falling asleep on the flight to the Imperial city, she saw Chadwick standing in front of her. He said, “Eyes open, Kyla. Magnezone says that we are less than an hour away from the Imperial City and our target.”

            Kyla got up and said, “Thank you for the wake up, Chad. Let’s look out the windows and see where we are.”

            Kyla and Chadwick walked up to the cockpit as Delilah and Stephan were getting up. They looked out the transport’s cockpit windows and saw the other three planes in front of them, along with Lugia and Rayquaza.

            The Porygon 2 controlling the plane told them, “We are on approach to the enemy capital. It will not be long now until we arrive.”

            As the couple watched the ground go by, the planes flew over a small lake, as they approached the large plateau in the center of the island they saw a massive number of specks coming up from the ground and approaching the planes.

            **They are scrambling “fighters!”**

            As the specks drew closer, Magnezone’s voice could be heard over the radio, it said, “Enemy flying Pokémon incoming, we cannot let allow any of them to breach the aircraft’s hulls! All planes, get someone to the frontal gunner’s seat!”

            The Porygon 2 in the cockpit told the team members, “One of you needs to get to the gunner’s seat!”

            Kyla volunteered and she climbed down into the gunner’s seat inside of a glass bubble just below the cockpit. There were four large gun barrels on the turret. Kyla saw that there were two metal handles for her to hold; both of them had a red trigger on the top.

            Kyla then looked though the targeting sight in the turret and said, “Ok, never done anything like this before. Of course, there is a first time for everything. Let’s see what this weapon can do!”

            **…Spew a torrent of armor-piercing rounds at whatever you point it at…**

            Kyla squeezed the triggers and aimed at the closest enemies and a hail of tracer bullets flew from the four barrels of the turret. The four plane’s machine guns and the two Legendary Pokémon attacked the incoming squadrons of Legion Flying Types. Kyla took careful aim and shot down multiple of the enemy Pokémon as they approached the squadron.

            **They are most certainly dead from both the gunfire and falling from that height.**

            Kyla shouted, “I feel powerful using this thing!” As she continued to open fire, she saw a Skarmory, whom she believed was Valeria, leading a pair of Aerodactyl fly past the hair of gunfire. They penetrated the side of one of the planes in front of Kyla.

            **Kyla is a potential gun nut? I hope not…**

            Kyla realized that that was the plane carrying Han’s team that had been boarded. But she could not do anything about it as she continued to fire at the enemies coming at them.

            Soon after, the gunners and the Legendary Pokémon were able to eliminate enough of the Legion’s Pokémon to force the remainder to retreat. The two Aerodactyl who had entered Hans’s teams plane were tossed out of the aircraft, unconscious, as Valeria flew out of the hole in the plane’s side and back towards the ground. The plane was still airborne, but limping forward.

            **It was important that Valeria survive this assault for reasons that become apparent later in the series.**

            As Kyla left the gunner’s seat and returned to the cockpit, she heard Magnezone over the radio, saying, “We are almost above the enemy capital. Once we locate the likely site of the missile, we will attempt a landing nearby it.”

            **I based this whole sequence on the opening of a video game called Wolfenstein: The New Order. Ironically, I traded that game in soon before I posted this chapter. In my embarrassment, I changed the name of this chapter before I posted it. I would later re-purchase the game and finish it, however.**

            The four airplanes started to descend, with the damaged plane descending much faster than the others. The descending flight flew over the Imperial City. Then, they flew over a huge palace and found a large courtyard with a small hill on its northern side. The hill appeared to have a bunker built into it and a large pointed object was sticking out of the top.

            As the four planes circled the courtyard, Rayquaza and Lugia landed and began to engage a swarm of Legion soldiers coming out of the palace and the city.

            Magnezone said over the radio, “We are going to have to land here! Prepare for a crash landing in the courtyard! Brace, everyone!”

            As the planes began their final approach, an Aura Sphere shot out from near the warhead and struck one of the plane’s engines. That plane went down rapidly and crashed into the palace. The other planes all went down and crashed, in a more controlled fashion, in the southern courtyard. Shade, Akira, Rexford, Magnezone and the two Guild teams and the militia Pokémon rapidly evacuated the crashed aircraft. The militia Pokémon joined the two Legendaries in forming a defensive line to stop the advancing Legion.

            **Yeah, the plane with no important characters on it gets shot down…**

            Shade told the teams, “You need to go and bring down the enemy Pokémon in the bunker and atop the hill. We will join our allies in protecting you all.”

            As Shade, Akira and Rexford ran to join the, militia Magnezone said, “Based on my research, that Aura Sphere might have come from Mewtwo himself. Once you go deal with the enemy soldiers, I will enter the bunker to deal with the weapon itself.”

            Jacob shouted, “We will go to the top of the bunker and take out whoever is guarding the top of the silo. You guys enter the bunker and bring down whoever is inside to clear a path for Magnezone.”

            Chadwick nodded and said, “We will move out. You guys should look out for the Ninetales leading a squad towards us, though.”

            Kyla thought, “That must be Arya. I hope that they can stop her.”

            **There she is… Arya, as I wrote before, plays a much bigger role in this series’ later stories. So, she survives this story, of course.**

            The two teams split up, with Hans’s team attacking Arya and her unit while Kyla’s team rushed the bunker’s open door.

            A Purple Pokémon with an insect-like body emerged from the bunker and said, in a mechanical sounding voice, “I am Genesect, prepare to be neutralized.”

            **There’s the Imperium’s other Legendary Pokémon. It’s worth noting that I ignore the Mythical-Legendary distinction and just call them all Legendary.**

            Genesect loaded a Blue device into it’s back and fired a Water-Type Techno Blast into Delilah, who looked badly wounded by the shot.

            Chad and Delilah both looked at each other and smiled, then they advanced on Genesect and each fired a Flamethrower into it. Both attacks hit and Genesect took massive damage.

            Stephan then followed up with a Mega Evolution and, then a Hydro Pump. Kyla also Mega Evolved and used an Aura Sphere.

            Genesect was surprisingly tough as it took all of the hits and then blasted Chadwick in the face with a Techno Blast.

            Chad recoiled back and then rushed Genesect with a Karate Chop to cover his team. His move just bounced off of Genesect, however.

            **That armor’s too strong for Karate Chops…I wonder if blasters would get through?**

            Delilah fired a Flamethrower at Genesect. However, it missed. Then Kyla launched a second Aura Sphere, which unerringly struck the Legendary Pokémon.

            As Genescet started to look badly damaged, Stephan blasted it with a Mud Shot.

            Stephan then took a Techno Blast from Genesect in retaliation. Then, Chadwick aimed carefully and used another Karate Chop to, finally, bring Genesect down.

            **Or maybe, its armor is not too strong for Karate Chops?**

            Kyla said, “That Pokémon was not natural. Either way, we were much stronger than it combined.

            As the team rushed toward the bunker, they saw a small group of Machamp going to assist Arya. Kyla said, “Guys, I am wondering if my father is here?”

            **Those are his Imperial Guard subordinates, after all. Kyla does not know that for sure, though. Also, the name Arya is also NOT a Game of Thrones reference.**

            Delilah replied as they entered the bunker, “If he is, we are dealing with him now. He was bad enough that Marina left him, so I think we should bring him down along with the weapon!”

            Stephan and Chadwick nodded their agreement as they walked down the stairs and into a large room where they could see the side of the huge missile. A pair of Porygon Z were floating in the room’s corners. There was a control console standing in front of the missile. The missile was being guarded by, as Kyla feared, her father Geoffrey.

              **Kyla had never sensed Geoffrey’s aura before, due to her inhibitors. So, she did not recognize it when they were approaching the silo bunker.**

            Geoffrey sighed and said, “Hello again, Kyla. So it has come to this?”

            Kyla shouted, “Father, I will not allow that missile to be fired! We will take you down if you stand in our way!”

            Geoffrey then laughed loudly and responded, “The missile is usable, but it is an empty threat. Why would we destroy a settlement we want to later conquer? I will have to stop your assault here, however.”

            **That is what the original plan was…**

            Chad said to Geoffrey, “I am willing to bring down my love’s father if I need to! We are going to disable that weapon!”

            Geoffrey simply chuckled and replied, “So, you must be Chadwick. I have heard that you are very close to my daughter. If things had turned out differently we could have gotten to know each other. Regardless, I have to do my duty as well. Porygon Z, attack them!”

            **Final Boss, stage one…**

            The pair of Porygon Z blasted the team with Discharge attacks. Not effecting Stephan, but injuring everyone else.

            **I do love to use Discharge, it shows up a heck of a lot in the third main story of this series.**

            Geoffrey simply folded his lower arms and waited calmly. Chadwick charged at Geoffrey, attempting to use a Seismic Toss on him. Geoffrey easily blocked the attack, with his four arms, and then used a Karate Chop on Chadwick.

            Stephan turned to one of the floating Porygon Z and launched a Hydro Pump at it, after Mega-Evolving. Just after Stephan’s attack hit, Kyla Mega-Evolved and blasted the same foe with an Aura Sphere, downing it.      

            **I had to keep remembering that those two could do that when I was writing the last five chapters of the story.**

            Delilah Blasted Geoffrey with a Flamethrower, but he seemed only slightly injured.

            The Porygon Z blasted Stephan with a Psybeam as Geoffrey said, “Your group is stronger than I thought it would be, Kyla. But you will not succeed. The Emperor himself is engaging the other squad you have sent at us, on the top of the silo.” Geoffrey rushed past Chadwick and used his own Seismic Toss on Stephan, flinging him into the ceiling and back to the floor. Stephan was almost downed by the blow.

            Chadwick turned to Geoffrey and rushed him, this time his Seismic Toss connected and Geoffrey was launched into the ceiling. He landed easily and then turned to face Chad again.

            Delilah charged, jumped up and used a Mach Punch on the final Porygon Z. Stephan fired a Mud Shot at Geoffrey, which connected.

            Kyla blasted the Porygon Z with an Aura Sphere, but it was still floating. Geoffrey Karate Chopped Chadwick again as the Porygon Z blasted Delilah with a Psybeam.

            **Notice how Kyla avoids attacking her father in this fight.**

            Then Kyla said, “Dad, sorry, but you are about to be all alone.” She then took down the Porygon Z with another Aura Sphere.

            Delilah ran at Geoffrey and hit him with a Mach Punch as Chad used his own Flamethrower point-blank and then Stephan used a Mud Shot to blast Geoffrey over to the control console.

            **Geoffrey was pretty tough, but he was outnumbered here and faced with four other high-level Pokémon.**

            Geoffrey said, “Gah!... Kyla, your team really is surprisingly strong. But, I have my duty to my society and my leader. I you want to access this panel, you will have to go through me!”

            As Kyla and her team regrouped for the final attack on Geoffrey, red alarms started to sound in the bunker, as the missile abruptly launched into the sky.

            **They must have had a way to safely contain the massive exhaust trail that launch created.**

            Geoffrey looked absolutely shocked and said, “It…it was actually aimed at Polumbos, but we were not supposed to use it. I thought it was too valuable to waste here. Only the Emperor had the remote device to fire it.”

            **Sometimes, those you have faith in can fail you.**

            Kyla was shocked, but she shouted at Geoffrey, “Do you now see whom you are working for, father! You know, Marina is in Polumbos Town! She will die if that missile hits, along with everyone else there!”

            Geoffrey sighed and said, “I cannot ever forgive her for leaving. But, at the same time, I cannot let her die.”

            Geoffrey took out a key and inserted it into the console, saying “Thankfully, I was given access to the console incase anything happened to the Emperor.”

            **Mewtwo’s faith in Geoffrey was misplaced, as was Geoffrey’s faith in him.**

            Kyla’s team stood back as Kyla gave Delilah an “I told you so” look. Geoffrey sighed, “The abort sequence has been completed. The missile should be detonating over the ocean high in the atmosphere!”

            Kyla smiled and said, “I knew you had it in you, daddy!”

            Delilah groaned, realizing that she may have been wrong.

            Then, an Aggron, probably Brutus’s replacement, jumped down from above, followed by an enraged looking Mewtwo floating down after him.

            Mewtwo asked Geoffrey, as Kyla’s teammates looked over at the slowly approaching Aggron, who had Mega Evolved, “Why has our ONLY nuclear missile detonated in midair? You were the only one who had access to the console other than me.”

            Geoffrey stammered, “Sir, I did not believe that it would be appropriate of us to destroy an entire town. I thought it was just an empty threat! We need to be fair rulers for Pokémon kind, not reckless destroyers of entire settlements.”

            **Geoffrey tried to justify his actions to Mewtwo, sadly for him…**

            Mewtwo said, “You have doomed this operation, we have lost our trump card!” Then he narrowed his eyes and said, “You will not even live to regret betraying me!”

            Before Geoffrey could react Mewtwo charged down at him and impaled Geoffrey through the heart with a Psycho Cut. Mewtwo angrily shouted, “Goodnight, you traitor!”

            **…Experiencing losses had changed Mewtwo for the worst. What started as an, admittedly heavily flawed, plan to create a safe and civilized society for all Pokémon disintegrated into a base desire for revenge on those who had wrecked it.**

            Kyla looked at what was happening in absolute shock as Geoffrey looked over to her as he hit the ground. He then smiled at his daughter as he passed away. 

            **As he was dying, Geoffrey at least knew that he had done right by Kyla.**

            Kyla was filled was rage as she glared at Mewtwo, who gripped his own Mega Stone and Mega Evolved (X). He still looked already injured, probably from fighting against the other Guild team.

            **It really is sad that Mewtwo killed Geoffrey, since Geoffrey had been one of his most loyal followers in the past.**

            Kyla shouted, “Chad, take the Aggron! Delilah, cover me! Stephan help me and then Chad!” she then charged directly at Mewtwo with a Metal Claw.

            **Also, I had a plan earlier for the missile to end up about to detonate on the Imperial City without being launched. Mewtwo would have not wanted what he built to outlast him and would have started the meltdown after the other team had defeated him. However, that was both too out of character for Mewtwo and would have had me “murder” all of the Imperium Pokémon in that city. Geoffrey would have tried to slow down the meltdown for long enough for the team to escape and then use the Escape Orb. Chad would have had to carry Kyla away to force her to let her father die.**

            Delilah blasted Mewtwo with a Flamethrower and Stephan blasted him with a Hydro Pump, the attacks only moderately slowed the Imperium’s ruler down.

            As Kyla was charging Mewtwo he blasted her with a Psychic attack. Kyla was injured by the attack, but she kept coming and she tackled Mewtwo to the ground and sliced his face with her Metal Claw.

            Chadwick used a Seismic Toss on the Mega Aggron as Stephan turned to help him.

            Mewtwo fired another Psychic pulse at Kyla, but she resisted it and then buried another Metal Claw into his body.

            Delilah then, as Chadwick, Stephan and the Mega Aggron were fighting, blasted Mewtwo with another Flamethrower.

            Mewtwo then used a Psycho Cut to stab Kyla, and she began to feel faint, however, Delilah shouted, as she advanced, “Do not give up yet, Kyla, we are ending this here!” Delilah then Mach Punched Mewtwo, who then turned to her from the ground.

            **Geoffrey is at least the third Pokémon that Mewtwo had killed with his Psycho Cut move. See the prequel for that.**  

            Kyla saw Chadwick bring the Mega Aggron down with a Flamethrower. And then Stephan turned to Mewtwo and blasted him with a, well-aimed, Hydro Pump.

            Mewtwo then was hacked in the face by Kyla’s Metal Claw one more time and he finally gave out, no longer able to attack.

            **He didn’t faint, but he could not attack anymore. That was for dramatic purposes, even though it usually does not make sense in the setting’s context.**

            Kyla shouted, “It is time to bring your reign to an end!”

            She lifted Mewtwo over her head and shouted to Delilah, “Hit him one more time!”

            Delilah did as she was told and sniped Mewtwo with one more Flamethrower as Kyla prepared to throw him into the pit nearby.

            Mewtwo coughed heavily and shouted, “Kyla, you are making a terrible mistake! This world needs a strong guiding hand. Your father just got in the way when it mattered the most.”

            Kyla simply replied, “You are wrong… for freedom you monster!”

            **Kyla was going to paraphrase a quote from the ending of another Video Game I have not mentioned yet. However, my beta reader said that, even in a Fan Fic, it was too close to plagiarism. That game, Valkyria Chronicles, is another one of my favorites along with PMD Rescue Team and Explorers. I have tried to write a story idea based off of the VC series multiple times. I have not succeeded in getting past the first few chapters…yet.**

            Kyla impaled Mewtwo with her Metal Claws one more time and, as he fainted he said, mockingly, “Remember when we danced.”

            **Now he faints!**

            Kyla screamed and threw Mewtwo into the pit. The fall, after all of his injuries, shattered his bones and killed him.

            **My other friend who read this said that scene was akin to how Darth Vader disposed of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars Episode VI: return of the Jedi. I did not see the connection until he told me.**  

            Kyla began to cry as she felt the full pain of losing her father. The two Mega-Evolved Pokémon in the team returned to normal. Chadwick grabbed his fiancé and told her. “We are falling back, now! We can mourn later!” He picked the sobbing Kyla up and the whole team left the bunker where they met up with Hans and his team, who were fleeing from the Legion’s forces.

            **So, Chadwick ended up carrying Kyla after all. Going back to some previous references… I think that Kyla is probably either Chaotic Good or Neutral Good.**

            Stephan shouted, “We took out Mewtwo! He is dead!”

            Chandra shouted, “We Knocked out the Ninetales and a number of their other troops. The missile exploded in midair a good distance from here. We need to rendezvous with Shade and use the Escape Orb!”

            Chad put Kyla down and the two teams made a full retreat to where the militia was getting worn down by the Legion. Shade ordered the two Legendary Pokémon to take off as he said, “Ok, everyone, before The Legion overwhelms the surviving militia Pokémon, we are getting out of here!”

            Magnezone then quickly asked, “Is Mewtwo dead? We saw the missile exploding in the distance after it launched!”

            Delilah replied, “Kyla killed him. Anyway, we need to go now!”

            The militia formed a defensive ring around the Guild members as Shade smashed the Escape Orb against the ground.

            Shade disappeared in a beam of blue light and then all of the other Pokémon in his force were consumed and sent up into the air by similar beams of light. As Kyla was being transported up into the air she thought, “Father, I will tell mother about what you did. I will never forget you! But, at least I avenged you.”

            All the surviving strike force Pokémon found themselves at and around the Guild headquarters. Rayquaza and Lugia arrived back the next day. Messages were sent to the rest of the Alliance Territory and victory celebrations were prepared.

            **My friend whom I mentioned earlier pointed out how, in his opinion, Magnezone and Mewtwo were both fighting the battles of their creators long after their creators had died. I believe that that was true in the case of Magnezone, but not necessarily true in the case of Mewtwo. I guess that that is a matter of opinion.**


	34. Epilogue: Fall of the Imperium

            After arriving at Megapolis and spending some time there, the two Guild teams and Rexford said goodbye to Shade and Akira. They then returned to Polumbos Town via airlift from Rayquaza and Lugia.

            Once the teams returned to Polumbos Town, they were able to return to their families and celebrate their victory over the Imperium properly. Stephan reunited with Stanford and, later, with his father. Delilah and Chadwick reunited with their families, as did the members of the other local team.

            Kyla reunited with Marina and Henry and shared with them the story of how Geoffrey died for saving Polumbos Town from annihilation. Marina did not have any verbal response to Kyla’s story and she scrambled her aura to prevent Kyla from reading it. However, she actually seemed quite sad. Henry looked very surprised by Marina’s reaction and held Marina to comfort her.

            **With his comparatively stubby arms.**

            The Pokémon who had participated in the mission that led to the death of Mewtwo and the salvation of the alliance, including Magnezone, all received medals for their heroism from Theodore at a ceremony in the town hall of Polumbos Town.

            **I wonder if that was meant to be a reference to the ending of Star Wars Episode IV?**

            Kyla and her team went to visit Alana and Andrew, who were still guarding the mine, soon after the victory party was finished. Kyla told her old friend of their victory. Alana said that she would be staying with Andrew for the time being, but that Kyla and her friends and family were welcome to visit anytime they wanted to.

            **The other guardians did not bother them that time, since they had already been there before and were not seeking any more stones.**

            Kyla and Chadwick were wed in Mother Blissey’s church soon after their return from the mine. They returned to their house on their wedding night. Chad later took over his dad’s job at the quarry and Kyla later developed in interest in painting, which she did to fill her time and make some money as well.

            **I was taking an Art History class when I wrote most of this story. That was why I put that detail into the epilogue.**

            Kyla and Chadwick became trendsetters in town and soon other couples were getting married in Polumbos and later, in the surrounding area.

            **That would spread over the whole world by the time of the later installments. That was one way in which the Imperium’s legacy survived.**

            As for the Imperium, the grieving Arya tried to declare herself the new Empress. However, Mewtwo was the glue that had held the Imperium together and without his charismatic leadership it fell apart. The various towns on the northern island quickly declared their independence from the Imperium. Valeria, who had led the Legion’s Air Scouts, also decided that the Imperium had been a terrible idea in the first place and led a successful rebellion against Arya in the old capital. Arya was captured and sentenced to spend sometime in the local prison, while Valeria became the new Mayor of the city. Valeria’s first act as mayor was to return the “Imperial City” to its old name of Hillcrest City.

            **I only came up with the name Hillcrest when I wrote the prequel. Thanks to the way I write way ahead of what I post, I was able to change that before the epilogue went up. More about Arya and Valeria’s relationship and why Valeria would lead a rebellion appears in the prequel.**

            With the Imperium having collapsed, the four Legendary Pokémon serving the alliance were released from their duties. Rayquaza returned to the skies while Groudon and Kyogre returned to their respective domains. Lugia visited with Kyla and her family and then went off to hunt the escaped Hydreigon, who she still wanted revenge on. Many, but not all, of the wild Pokémon who had served the alliance under the Legendaries became civilized and moved into and/or founded towns.

            **There is a reason why I had the Hydreigon escape. It was a sequel hook for PMD: On the Frontier of Chaos, the second story in this series.**

            In the years that followed, the Alliance Territory became the largest group of settlements on the continent and Armaldo became its first president. Theodore became the General of the armies for the new state.

            **From Sheriff to General…That is quite a promotion!**

            Marina and Henry purchased a house not far from Kyla and Chad’s soon after their own wedding. Marina and Henry both got jobs advising the Alliance Territory’s expanded militia.

            Stephan and Stanford moved to Riverton, despite Stephan’s mother Marsha being very angry with that. Stephan’s parents separated due to their debate over their son. Tobias, Stephan’s father ended up accepting his son’s orientation and his relationship with Stanford in the end. Stanford and Stephan returned to Polumbos Town, briefly, to be married in mother Blissey’s church.

            **At least some local churches of Arceus allow for same-sex marriages. As I said before, homophobia is not necessarily linked to religious faith in this setting.**

            Shade and Akira got married in Megapolis and continued to lead the Guild. The P.A.G. continued to grow as a reputable organization both inside and outside of the Alliance Territory. Livia and Olympia continued to work for the Guild as assistants for Shade and Akira.

            Rexford and Delilah were also wed in Polumbos Town and Rexford took a job as a Colonel under General Theodore.

            **I am actually not a big fan of the institution of marriage in real life. I am really not sure why there are so many weddings in the epilogues of all three of my main installments of the ROC fanfic series.**

            Magnezone returned to its ruins. Feeling as though Mewtwo dying had finished its duty to the extinct Global Federation it turned the ruins into a museum after it drove off the remaining wild Pokémon in the area.

            **Someone suggested that Magnezone would self-destruct after finishing its mission. However, I like this ending for it much more. I also loved museums as a child and even now, so that was probably a factor in that decision.**

            Hans, Jacob, Chandra and Alina continued working for the Guild and became, once again, the only team in Polumbos Town after Kyla’s team disbanded. Sunflora, of course, kept her job running the Guild office in Polumbos Town.

            **I thought that Kyla’s team could get disbanded while the other team would keep going… Maybe I just thought that fit the ending better than having the reverse happen or having them both keep on adventuring.**

            As for Polumbos Town itself, it continued to grow and become a more prosperous settlement. Eventually, it became a full-fledged city. Many of the businesses of the town continued to grow. Mother Blissey continued to run her church with Sabrina still assisting her. Mother Blissey even married Alina and Sabrina in her church.

            Akira’s younger brothers became the wardens of Theodore’s old prison after their older sister moved back in to the Guild HQ in Megapolis.

            With the tyranny of the Imperium eliminated and the security the expanding alliance brought, things on the continent were better for the local Pokémon than they had been in a long time.

            **I guess that I wanted to point out that the events of the story had a net positive on the setting in that part of the epilogue.**

**\---**

            In a grassy yard, a pair of Riolu, one male, one female squared off. The female said, “You know, I think I am going to win this time!”

            The male replied, “Bring it on!”

            The two charged at each other, each using Quick Attack to strike. After recoiling from the hits, they closed in and began swinging their fists. They punched and blocked consistently until they both landed a strong hit on the other and were pushed back onto the ground.

            As the two Riolu were picking themselves up off the ground an older female Lucario stepped in. She said, “Alright Ana, Rico you need to stop sparing now. Your parents would not be happy with me if either or both of you got knocked out.”

            **In the setting, fighting is a more normal part of life. So, siblings sparring is more normal, regardless of their gender.**

            The two Riolu sighed and replied “Yes, Grandma Marina.”

            Marina then said, “Even though it’s true, I hate being called Grandma, it makes me feel old. Anyway, we should head in to the house now before…”

            The trio heard a female voice saying, “Mom, kids, we are home from visiting Stephan and Stanford over in Riverton.”

            Marina said, “Well, I recognize both Kyla’s aura and her voice. Go to your mother, you two!”

            The two kids ran into the house, with their grandmother following them. Kyla and Chadwick were walking into the house with some bags. Chad said, “Hey kids, we brought food for dinner!” Chadwick then headed to drop off the bags at the kitchen counter.

            **Just to make it clear, Ana is a bit older than Rico. Pokémon cannot have twins as far as I know.**

            Kyla then added, “Thank you for watching the kids, mom.”

            Marina responded, “It’s fine, Kyla. I love my…grandchildren. Anyway, I should get home myself. Henry is taking me out to a romantic dinner. Also, my Aura Sense is telling me that your guests are nearly here.”

            Kyla nodded and said, “We will see you later, mom. Love you and thanks again.”

            Marina left as Rico and Ana went over to look out one of the house’s windows.  

            Ana shouted, “Mom, grandma was right. Our guests have arrived!”

            **They do not have their Aura Sense yet.**

            As Chad started preparing the food, there was a knock on the door. Kyla opened the door to see a pair of Infernape, Delilah and Rexford, standing in the doorway. A female Chimchar was standing in front of her parents.

            **It looks like they had a child as well.**

            Rico and Ana walked up to the door as their mother let Delilah and Rexford in. Rico blushed slightly and said, “Hi Diane, nice to see you again.”

            Ana also blushed slightly and said, “I am happy to see you as well.”

            Diane replied, “Good to see you too Rico, Ana. Lets’ head to the yard.”

            As the two pairs of parents were chatting and working on dinner, the kids headed to the backyard. Rico whispered to his older sister, “You know that she likes me and not you.”

            **There it is, I had a feeling that I had mentioned that Ana is the older one somewhere.**

            Ana sighed and replied, “Maybe so, but Uncles Stephan and Stanford told me not to worry. I am sure that will find a girlfriend someday.”

            **Ana is gay, the sequel makes that abundantly clear. She had the good fortune to grow up in an accepting family. Also, I was taking Spanish when I wrote this story. That is why Ana and Rico have Spanish names. The protagonist of the sequel and his father also have Spanish names.**

            Diane opened the back door of the house and the three of them headed out into the backyard.

            The view then pans up into the bright blue sky above Polumbos Town.

 

                                                            The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there is the “Author’s Cut Edition” for PMD: In the Wake of Humanity. I hope that you all enjoyed reading this version and found some of my insights to be interesting. Upon reading this story again, I felt decently proud of myself, despite the errors that were still visible. My next posted story will probably be the “Author’s Cut Edition” for PMD: On the Frontier of Chaos. That might not begin posting for a while, however. After that, I have no other current plans to post anymore "Author's Cuts" for the time being. In other news, I have actually started work on a new story that does connect to Wake of Humanity and its sequel in a major way. However, I am still not 100% sure if that new project will get finished and then posted. Anyway, thank you all for reading this re-release.

**Author's Note:**

> That was hopefully a good taste of what this edition of the story will look like. Also, I have finished a rough draft for a similar re-release of this story's sequel: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: On the Frontier of Chaos. That re-release will be posted sometime after this one is complete. However, I have no plans to re-release any of my other stories after that at this time. That is especially true seeing as though I am contemplating writing a new story in the near future with links to this story and its sequel, among other projects of mine.


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